The United Arab Emirates has joined Pax Silica, a US-led coalition launched last month to safeguard cross-border infrastructure and supply chains for the artificial intelligence era, following Qatar’s accession.
The UAE became the ninth member of the initiative after Minister of State Saeed bin Mubarak Al Hajeri signed the Pax Silica Declaration two days after Qatar.
Other signatories include Australia, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and the United Kingdom, while India is expected to join in February, according to the US State Department.
“The UAE’s leadership in energy, investment and technological innovation makes it an essential partner in this coalition,” the State Department said in a press release.
“It reflects a strong commitment to building a secure, world-class AI ecosystem and a clear vision for using technology to support economic diversification and growth.”
The initiative aims to protect the procurement of silicon, critical minerals, energy and other key inputs for the semiconductor and AI industries from coercive dependencies and single points of failure.
Under the framework, the US and UAE will collaborate on identifying flagship projects across the global technology value chain, including data centres, 6G networks and mineral refining, the State Department said.
