The U.S. Department of State hosted the Pax Silica Summit from June 25 to 26, bringing together signatories to the Pax Silica Declaration. Although Taiwan is not a signatory, it participated in the summit as a non-signatory participant.
The State Department said the United States and Taiwan maintain close cooperation in areas including supply chains and artificial intelligence, adding that Taiwan’s advanced manufacturing sector plays a key role in driving the AI revolution.
Taiwan participates in Pax Silica Summit
According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), the United States launched the Pax Silica Initiative last year to secure AI supply chains spanning semiconductors, critical minerals and energy, while excluding China from semiconductor supply chains capable of supporting artificial intelligence (AI).
Jacob Helberg, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, chaired the Pax Silica Partner Economies Summit on June 25 and 26. Helberg said the initiative grew out of the recognition that forums such as the Group of Seven (G7) and the Group of Twenty (G20) were not well suited to building a network to advance AI innovation, the Financial Times reported.
On the eve of the summit, June 24, the European affairs news outlet, Euractiv, reported that the European Commission, representing the European Union’s 27 member states, had signed on to the Pax Silica Initiative.
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In an interview with the Financial Times, Helberg said Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, and Panama would also join the initiative, bringing its total membership to 24 countries.
Helberg declined to say whether the Chinese government had pressured U.S. partners to dissuade them from joining the Pax Silica Initiative. However, he said the initiative stands in sharp contrast to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which he described as being driven by state-owned institutions, lacking transparency, allocating capital inefficiently, and promoting predatory debt traps, according to Financial Times.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Pax Silica Summit on June 25, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau described the technologies that will define the 21st century as “too consequential to be left vulnerable to coercive policies and markets.” He said advanced semiconductors, AI infrastructure, abundant energy, and the critical minerals that underpin them are essential, adding that “Pax Silica exists to keep these technologies and the future growth of all of us in trusted hands.”
The second Pax Silica Summit brought together representatives of the signatories to the Pax Silica Declaration, including Australia, Finland, India, Israel, Japan, Norway, the Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Taiwan foreign ministry: Strengthening high-tech supply chain cooperation
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on June 27 that it welcomed the United States’ hosting of the Pax Silica Summit, which brought together partners to discuss the resilience and security of supply chains for key strategic industries. Taiwan was represented by Hou Yi-hsiu, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs; Huang Yu-lin, Secretary-General of the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF); and Liao Jung-yu, a manager at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).
According to the ministry, participants held extensive exchanges on issues including strengthening trusted AI supply chains, expanding investment and innovation, and deepening cooperation in critical minerals, energy, semiconductors, and computing infrastructure.
The ministry added that Hou, at the invitation of the U.S. side, shared Taiwan’s government and industry experience in promoting industrial innovation with representatives from participating countries, highlighting Taiwan’s indispensable role in the global AI supply chain. The discussions also repeatedly underscored a shared view with the United States that Taiwan is a symbiotic partner in the development of advanced technology for both the U.S. and the world.
It said Taiwan welcomes continued U.S. cooperation with regional partners, including Taiwan, on economic security issues. In late January this year, Taiwan and the United States completed the sixth formal meeting of the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue (EPPD), during which both sides held in-depth discussions on strengthening economic security and building secure supply chains. The two sides also jointly signed the Pax Silica Declaration and the Taiwan-U.S. Joint Statement on Economic Security Cooperation.
The ministry said it will continue, through bilateral mechanisms such as the EPPD and within the framework of the Pax Silica Initiative, to work with the United States and other key partners to build secure and resilient high-tech supply chains, leverage Taiwan’s world-class manufacturing strength and highly mature supply-chain integration capabilities, expand the international influence of Taiwan’s industries, and further broaden Taiwan’s international space.
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US State Department: Taiwan is a key player in the AI revolution
In response to questions from the Central News Agency (CNA), a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on background that the summit is advancing the Pax Silica Initiative by building secure, market-oriented supply chains and reducing bottlenecks across the AI technology stack.
Separately, a U.S. State Department spokesperson highlighted Taiwan’s close cooperation with the United States on AI supply chains and other economic initiatives. The spokesperson added that Taiwan and the United States are working closely together on these and other important economic initiatives, and that “Taiwan’s advanced manufacturing sector plays a key role in fueling the AI revolution.”
