Pax Silica pact excludes China, empowers defense firms

The second Pax Silica Summit, held June 27 in Washington, D.C., expanded the US-led AI and semiconductor supply-chain alliance to 24 formal signatories as 10 new members -- including the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, Argentina, Chile, and Panama -- signed the Pax Silica Declaration. The US State Department announced a pilot AI supply-chain credentialing platform in Panama ('Pax Pass') to streamline vetted shipments of semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and critical minerals. A Stanford University-partnered Foundry School workforce program was also unveiled. Russia's RT framed the pact as deepening EU dependence and empowering defense-linked firms; analysts across the political spectrum view it as a US-coordinated effort to reduce reliance on China across the full technology stack, from critical minerals to compute infrastructure.