Partners of Pax Silica, which is also referred to as ‘The Silicon Declaration’, have been hand-picked by the US, with the UAE and Qatar formally joining this week.

The programme seeks to safeguard the full US technology supply chain, including critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, computing and data infrastructure. It is an important aspect of the Trump administration’s strategy to reduce dependence on other nations, while also strengthening cooperation with its allied partners.

“The Silicon Declaration isn’t just a diplomatic communiqué,” Jacob Helberg, undersecretary of state for economic affairs, said in an interview with Reuters. “It’s meant to be an operational document for a new economic security consensus.”

Pax Silica already includes Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia and the UK. The addition of both the UAE and Qatar is significant for the US, as Helberg stated that Pax Silica is a “coalition of capabilities,” with membership driven by the industrial strengths and businesses of each country.

Helberg also said it hopes the initiative will help accelerate the Middle East’s economic transition away from energy dependence and instead towards a more diversified, technology-driven economy.

“For the UAE and Qatar, this marks a shift from a hydrocarbon-centric security architecture to one focused on silicon statecraft,” he added.

This new development for Pax Silica further signals how the Middle East is pivoting from oil to AI and digital infrastructure investments. Both the UAE and Qatar already have large-scale electricity capacity and energy exports and are looking to grow their investment in grid resilience.

For data centres, that require plenty of power and energy to run, reliability is paramount – especially as electricity consumption related to AI is expected to boom even further by 2030.

“This partnership will drive progress in AI, advanced manufacturing and energy and positions the United States and Qatar as leaders in the global digital economy,” the US Department of State said via its press release.

“Pax Silica is an economic security coalition built for the AI age,” it added. “This is the first time countries are organising around compute, silicon, minerals and energy as shared strategic assets.”

However, this move could stand to intensify the geopolitical tensions between the US and China, as both seek to become the global leader in AI. The US delayed China chip tariffs until 2027, which China argued undermined global cooperation and further disrupted supply chains.

Moving forward, Pax Silica will be concentrating on expanding membership, building strategic projects to secure supply chains and coordinating policies to protect critical infrastructure and technology. The latter will, presumably, consider data centres.

Helberg told Reuters that discussions are also ongoing on projects that could modernise trade and logistics routes, which includes the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor. Advanced US technology could be used, he said, to boost regional integration and expand its economic footprint.

This move comes alongside the Future Minerals Forum, a global minerals and supply chain conference hosted by Saudi Arabia that is currently hosting senior officials, industry leaders and investors in Riyadh this week.

It also comes shortly before Capacity Middle East 2026, which takes place in the UAE on 10-12 February 2026 alongside Capacity Iraq Connect. Find out more information below.

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