New Delhi: The India-US partnership in semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI), which got a fresh push during US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent visit to India, has rapidly evolved from strategic dialogue to industrial execution. Anchored by the US-India TRUST Initiative and the PAX Silica Declaration, both nations are collaborating to build trusted tech supply chains, expand computational capacity, and establish joint R&D projects.
The vision which was outlined in February 2025 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump under the ‘Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technologies initiative’ (TRUST), to inject a new dynamism of AI opportunity to promote innovation and deploy it for human prosperity, has taken rapid strides, according to senior officials.
The partnerships focus on defence and commercial semiconductor manufacturing, such as the Shakti Semiconductor Fab, which is developing compound semiconductors for electric vehicles and aerospace applications.
US companies like General Atomics and Synopsys are partnering with Indian entities like 3rdiTech to validate designs and train a robust engineering workforce, officials said.
By joining PAX Silica, India has solidified its role in a select global network aimed at de-risking supply chains and reducing dependence on adversarial nations for critical minerals and foundational silicon.
The official said the US and India are actively developing an AI Infrastructure Roadmap aimed at overcoming constraints in financing, powering, and scaling large-scale US-origin AI infrastructure within India. American technology companies also want access to India’s fast-growing AI market and the US sees India as an important country to build AI infrastructure outside China.
American tech giants, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, are making massive, multi-billion-dollar investments to expand India’s cloud networks and local datacenter capabilities.
Both governments are aligned on reciprocal compute access and shared regulatory frameworks, empowering startups and driving cross-border innovation without restrictive AI-diffusion policies.
The partnership is jointly steered by the National Security Advisors of both countries, merging commercial digitisation goals with deep-rooted national security interests.
India and the US have further strengthened their technological partnership with signing of the strategic agreement to deepen cooperation in critical minerals and rare earths during the recent visit of Rubio.
These elements constitute key materials used for making semiconductors, electric vehicles, solar panels and high-tech defence products. The pact comes in the backdrop of growing global concerns about China’s dominance over these critical inputs, which gives the communist giant power to disrupt global supply chains.
Rubio clearly pointed out that the agreement has been signed because India and the US “have a strategic and shared interest in the fact that vibrant innovation economies such as ours cannot afford to leave the foundational materials of these industries vulnerable to single source monopolies that could deny us these things, not just in a time of conflict, but as a leverage point contrary to our sovereign national interests.”
He also referred to India signing the Pax Silica Declaration, which is a United States-led strategic coalition aimed at building secure, resilient, and trusted supply chains for artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and critical minerals.
The agreement also opens the door for joint financing and investment in critical mineral and rare earth ventures, ensuring the raw materials necessary for semiconductor fabrication and defense technologies remain secure.
(IANS)
