India yesterday joined a US-led initiative to strengthen technology cooperation among strategic allies in a move that underscores the nations’ warming ties after a brief strain over New Delhi’s unabated purchase of discounted Russian oil.
The decision aligns India closely with Washington’s efforts to build secure supply chains for semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and critical technologies at a time when geopolitical competition with China is intensifying.
It also signals a reset in relations following friction over energy trade and tariffs.
Photo: EPA
Nations that have joined the Pax Silica framework include Japan, South Korea, the UK and Israel.
“Pax Silica will be a group of nations that believe technology should empower free people and free markets. India’s entry into Pax Silica isn’t just symbolic. Its strategic, it’s essential,” US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said in a speech preceding the agreement signing.
Pax Silica is aimed at strengthening cooperation among partner countries on semiconductor design, fabrication, research and supply chain resilience. The initiative seeks to reduce dependence on China-dominated manufacturing hubs while promoting trusted production networks across democracies and strategic allies.
The development at the artificial intelligence summit in New Delhi comes weeks after India and the US reached an interim trade framework to reduce tariffs and grant greater access to each other’s markets, easing tensions that had threatened to slow bilateral momentum.
US President Donald Trump earlier this month announced that the US would lower reciprocal import tariffs on India from 25 percent to 18 percent and also remove the additional 25 percent levy imposed earlier for buying Russian crude after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop imports.
India had ramped up Russian oil imports after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, drawing criticism from Western partners even as New Delhi defended the purchases as necessary to manage inflation and protect its consumers.
India’s entry into Pax Silica, combined with trade concessions, marks a strategic convergence that extends beyond commerce into long-term technology and security cooperation, reinforcing India’s role as a key US partner in the Indo-Pacific.
“From the trade deal to Pax Silica to defense cooperation, the potential for our two nations to work together is truly limitless,” Gor said.
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