Qatar Joins US-Led Pax silica initiative — India to follow soon

Qatar has joined the US-led strategic initiative Pax Silica while India is to be invited to the supply chain effort over the next month according to the US ambassador to India, Sergio Gor.

Pax Silica, created last month, aims to align supply chains of rare earth mineral producing countries with western manufacturers of semiconductors and AI infrastructure. The inaugural summit brought the roster of participating countries together in Washinton DC: Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, Israel, the UAE, and Australia.

India’s involvement could see it position itself as a key exporter, fuelling the future development of the western AI industry. However, while the country is home to the third largest reserves in the world, sitting at 6.9 million tons, a lack of investment in mining infrastructure and processing power causes it to fall far behind the likes of China.

The combined involvement of Qatar and the UAE brings with it much needed investment. The Qatar Investment Authority manages a fund of $524 billion with $20 billion of that tied up in a Brookfield real estate project to build AI data centres. G42, UAE’s AI development firm has backed new AI data centres with Blackrock, Microsoft and Open AI. Involvement of these emirate states would include US funds directed into upgrading key shipping routes around the Gulf.

The name itself suggests a broader aim of US dominance and supply chain security within the global AI race; derived from the Latin Pax Romana, the name for a 200-year period of peace, prosperity and power during the Roman Empire. When questioned about the role of China within global supply chains, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Jacob Helberg, states the aim of the initiative to “create a competitive edge so steep, so insurmountable that no adversary or competitor can scale it”.

Pax Silica may look like a step in the right direction in fulfilling the future that its name suggests, however, as it stands the only country with significant reserves is Australia. Australian reserves, estimated to be around 5.7 million tons, are dwarfed by the size of the Chinese mineral resources. On top of this Australia lacks infrastructure to process much of these minerals, causing a reliance on Chinese processing for their own supply.

Further trade talks are planned between India and the US on Tuesday.