When Washington unveiled its “Pax Silica” initiative earlier this month, the absence of countries like India and Vietnam spoke almost as loudly as the presence of Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The message? America’s new vision for the AI supply chain will begin with only its most trusted hands.
The Pax Silica Declaration, signed at a summit held in the United States on December 12-13, brought together a carefully chosen group as founding signatories. Alongside the host nation and its East Asian allies were Britain, Australia, Israel and Singapore.
Non-signatory participants include the Netherlands, the European Union, Canada and the United Arab Emirates, with guest contributions from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Taiwan.
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The initiative’s carefully curated membership list, which excludes a number of major Indo-Pacific economies, reveals the US’ “tiered” alliance-building strategy, according to Kevin Chen, associate research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
“The limited selection may point to Washington doubling down on a tiered approach to its foreign partners, prioritising those that are more willing to collaborate and contribute to US economic security,” Chen said.
Political affinity is not the only measure at play, however. Each Pax Silica member brings a distinct capability to the AI supply chain: Japan’s precision manufacturing, South Korea’s semiconductor giants, Australia’s mineral wealth and Singapore’s logistics and financing capacity.