India and United States Cement Strategic AI Alliance Under Pax Silica Framework

New Delhi and Washington have officially launched the India-U.S. AI Opportunity Partnership, serving as a critical bilateral addendum to the Pax Silica Declaration. Signed on February 20, 2026, the agreement aligns the world’s oldest and largest democracies on the physical foundations of artificial intelligence. This partnership falls under the broader India-U.S. COMPACT framework, designed to accelerate military and commercial technology collaboration between the two nations.

The Pax Silica Declaration focuses on securing the physical backbone of the modern economy, which includes semiconductors, critical minerals, and reliable energy infrastructure. By joining this framework, India becomes the tenth signatory alongside nations such as Japan and the United Arab Emirates. The initiative seeks to build a trusted ecosystem that reduces reliance on adversarial supply chains, particularly those controlled by strategic rivals in the global market.

A central pillar of the agreement is the promotion of pro-innovation regulation. Both governments expressed a desire to move beyond the paralysis of fear and instead foster an environment where startups and creators can scale rapidly. This approach aims to empower builders and platforms by mainstreaming regulatory regimes that prioritize investment and technological advancement over the restrictive safeguards often seen in other jurisdictions.

The partnership also targets the strengthening of the physical AI stack through joint research and development projects. This includes efforts to expand reliable energy for data centers and to accelerate the production of critical minerals like lithium and cobalt. By building a trusted semiconductor ecosystem, the two nations hope to secure the hardware necessary for the next generation of computing and industrial applications.

Private sector leadership remains the primary driver of this revolution according to the joint statement. The agreement facilitates cross-border venture capital flows and encourages industrial partnerships for next-generation data centers. Both countries intend to cooperate on providing developers with better access to high-performance processors and advanced AI models to ensure entrepreneurs remain the architects of the future.

Strategic officials from both sides formalized the pact in New Delhi, including Indian Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and U.S. Ambassador Sergio Gor. The Ministry of External Affairs noted that this signals a new era for bilateral relations. This alignment ensures that democratic values like the rule of law remain at the heart of the global technological architecture.