India, Dec. 15 -- Pax Silica - the name given to the US-led coalition of nations to fight off "coercive dependencies" in technology and manufacturing - is a coinage meant to spell out the group's intent as plainly as possible. It is a clear reference to the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the fundamental building block of which is the silicon chip. But it also evokes prompt juxtaposition with the idea of "Pax Sinica", or "a peaceful regional/global order led by China". China leveraged its export of critical minerals in its tariff stare-down with the US earlier this year. Pax Silica's focus on "trustworthy systems" for AI supply chains, energy inputs, critical minerals, manufacturing, and technological hardware makes it clear that the US and allies don't want to be arm-twisted again. AI is set to trigger a fundamental reset of the world economy, in terms of who leads the development of the technology and to what end. On their part, Pax Silica partners will collaborate for joint research and development, manufacturing, and infrastructure development related to AI and other emerging technologies. They are expected to work together to secure development software applications and platforms, frontier foundation models, information connectivity and network infrastructure, compute and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, transportation logistics, minerals refining and processing, and energy. China's massive investments in AI and frontier tech, as well as its near-monopoly in rare earth minerals that are central to these, are perceived as a threat that needs to be countered through joint efforts. Though the US State Department insists the pact is not aimed at "isolating others", China is implicitly in the crosshairs. China aside, it is odd that India is not a part of the grouping - though the door remains open, on paper, with the US maintaining that the initiative is about "coordinating with partners who want to remain competitive and prosperous". In the quest to build supply chains to counter China, the US does see India as a critical partner-nation. Indeed, when the Chinese freeze on rare earth exports hit earlier this year, the US treasury secretary talked about a "fulsome response" that would involve coordinating with India as well. India's partners in the Quad grouping with the US, Japan and Australia, are also party to the Pax Silica. There is significant investor interest in India's AI future - the recent Microsoft and Amazon commitments offer evidence of this. The value-proposition India offers to multinationals who want to integrate the country into their supply chains will ensure geopolitics does not play spoilsport....