From the electrical engineering wizards at EE Times, December 15:
Last week’s launch of the Pax Silica Initiative marked a significant shift in global geopolitics. Convened by the second Trump administration, this coalition signals a move away from post-Cold War globalization toward a new model of economic statecraft focused on securing artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor supply chains.
The Pax Silica Declaration brings together nine core nations—the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Australia—to collectively secure the strategic foundations of the digital economy.
The initiative’s name intentionally references past hegemonies, such as Pax Romana and Pax Americana, implying that modern peace and stability will depend on control of silicon and computational power rather than military strength alone.
The end of efficiency
For thirty years, the global semiconductor supply chain prioritized efficiency, relying on just-in-time manufacturing and concentrated production in East Asia. The crises of the 2020s revealed the vulnerabilities of this model. The Pax Silica Initiative reflects a shared belief among allied nations that economic security is national security, a principle strongly supported by the Trump administration.This urgency arises from the understanding that AI is a transformative force for long-term prosperity and military advantage, not just another industry. Jacob Helberg, the initiative’s chief architect and Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, summarized this shift: “If the 20th century ran on oil and steel, the 21st century runs on compute and the minerals that feed it.”
The coalition seeks to eliminate single points of failure by establishing a more resilient economic order. This directly addresses the growing risks of dependency on China, which controls about 90% of rare earth refining needed for advanced semiconductors. By treating compute, silicon, minerals, and energy as shared strategic assets, the alliance aims to secure the physical infrastructure of AI from unauthorized access or control.
Building on the Biden foundation
Although the initiative is a signature policy of the second Trump term, it is built on diplomatic groundwork from the previous administration. The inclusion of the Netherlands and Japan stems from a confidential trilateral agreement reached in January 2023 under the Biden administration, which aligned export controls to restrict advanced immersion Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) lithography tool exports from ASML to China.Pax Silica formalizes and expands this arrangement into a comprehensive economic security framework, shifting from simple restrictions to active supply chain integration. This continuity demonstrates bipartisan agreement in Washington on limiting Chinese technological ambitions, though the Trump administration has added a more transactional approach.
Departing from the previous strategy of total blockade, President Trump has allowed Nvidia to sell its advanced H200 AI chips to approved customers in China, with a 25% fee paid to the U.S. government. This approach monetizes Chinese demand for compute while maintaining oversight, representing a notable win for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who opposed complete market exclusion.
Corporate and geopolitical winners
The signatories were chosen for their control over key choke points in the semiconductor value chain. The alliance’s “Iron Triangle”—Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea—forms the industrial core of the initiative....
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