Pax Silica and the weaponization of AI supply chains: The new front in US global economic warfare

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7216962

“If the 20th century ran on oil and steel, the 21st century runs on compute and the minerals that feed it.”

So declared US Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, Jacob Helberg, as part of the State Department’s announcement of Pax Silica, the new flagship initiative for artificial intelligence (AI) and supply chain security.

With this declaration, Washington is drawing a new iron curtain across global economic infrastructure – one forged in rare metals, cutting-edge chips, and digital infrastructure, and justified through the familiar language of trust, security, and prosperity. In short, Pax Silica is a non-binding declaration of intent to form a political-economic alliance in the field of AI and its supply chains, primarily directed against China, and includes seven countries, among them Israel.

What is Pax Silica?

According to the announcement earlier this month, Project Pax Silica is the State Department’s latest effort in the field of AI and supply chain security: “We believe that true economic security requires reducing excessive dependencies and forging new connections with reliable partners and suppliers committed to fair market practices.”

At its core, the alliance aims to dominate the AI economy by tightly controlling the supply chains that underpin it – from raw materials and shipping lanes to data flows and chip manufacturing. Ostensibly framed around “economic security” and “trusted partnerships,” the initiative serves as a geopolitical instrument to isolate China and cement western supremacy in the industries of the future.

Despite its Latin branding (Pax meaning peace and stability, while Silica refers to the world of technology and computer chips, alluding to Silicon Valley), Pax Silica is the economic architecture of a new Cold War. The declaration was signed at the Pax Silica Summit in Washington on 12 December, and the selection of member states – Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, Israel, the UAE, and Australia – mirrors the containment coalitions of previous eras.

Guest contributions from Taiwan, the EU, Canada, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) further reinforce the Atlanticist orientation of this emerging bloc. Partners in the Persian Gulf and NATO member Turkiye are also obvious contenders to join, especially given the latter’s “deep industrial capacity and proximity to European markets.”