UAE officially joins the US-led Pax Silica which aims to secure AI supply chain

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined a US-led initiative called Pax Silica to secure AI and semiconductor supply chains, further strengthening economic ties with the United States.

The programme is a key pillar of the Trump administration’s economic statecraft strategy to reduce dependence on rival nations and strengthen cooperation among allied partners.

The group also includes Australia, Britain, Israel, Japan, Qatar, Singapore and South Korea.

Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, said: “By joining Pax Silica, the UAE is reinforcing a core principle we share with the United States: that the future of artificial intelligence must be grounded in trust and resilient global partnerships. But Pax Silica is about more than AI alone – it is also about economic prosperity, critical minerals and the infrastructure that powers the digital age.

“As AI reshapes economies, supply chains and societies, initiatives like Pax Silica help ensure that innovation remains open and is developed and deployed responsibly – protected by strong safeguards and guided by shared standards.

“Pax Silica reinforces the UAE-US technology partnership and contributes to a stable, secure foundation for the Silicon Age, one that supports long-term growth, opportunity and shared prosperity.”

Jacob Helberg, the US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs, told Reuters: “Ultimately, we want to focus on the arteries of the supply chain, primarily logistics, the muscle of the supply chain, via industrial capacity, and the fuel of the supply chain, primarily capital and energy.

“And we view the UAE as a comprehensive partner that can make meaningful and important contributions in all three of those areas.”

Helberg invited the UAE on behalf of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to a ministerial-level meeting on critical minerals in Washington next month, which he said would include a “large group” of countries.

UAE invests billions to lead AI

The UAE has been spending billions of dollars to become a global AI hub, looking to leverage its strong relations with Washington to secure access to US technology, such as some of the world’s most advanced chips.

It has also signed a multibillion-dollar deal to build one of the world’s largest data centre hubs in Abu Dhabi with US technology.

Asked whether Trump’s threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on US trade by countries that do business with Iran – a group that includes the UAE – would affect the US-UAE relationship, Helberg said he was “very confident in the strength and depth of America’s relationship with the UAE”.