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The United States views India as a highly strategic partner in efforts to secure global supply chains for artificial intelligence and semiconductors, a senior American official said, pushing back against speculation that political tensions kept New Delhi out of a recent high-level technology summit in Washington.

Jacob Helberg, the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, said he would travel to New Delhi in February to attend the India AI Impact Summit, signalling Washington’s intent to deepen cooperation with India on what he described as “economic security matters.”

Speaking to reporters virtually at the Pax Silica Summit in Washington, Helberg addressed questions over India’s absence from the gathering, which brought together advanced economies to coordinate strategy on AI infrastructure and semiconductor supply chains.

"I want to be clear that the conversations between the United States and India pertaining to trade arrangements are a completely separate and parallel track to our discussions on supply chain security," Helberg said, as quoted by ANI. "We are not conflating those two things."

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He stressed that India was not excluded from the summit due to diplomatic friction, but is currently engaging the US through bilateral channels rather than the multilateral format. "We view India as a highly strategic potential partner on supply chain security-related efforts, and we welcome the opportunity to engage with them," he added, noting that officials from both sides remain in regular communication.

Helberg said his participation in the February summit in Delhi would be aimed at moving cooperation beyond dialogue and towards measurable outcomes. The visit comes at a time when Washington is sharpening its focus on securing critical technologies and reducing vulnerabilities in global supply chains.

The Pax Silica initiative, unveiled at the December summit, marks a shift in US economic strategy by placing national security considerations at the centre of trade and industrial policy. The framework is built around four pillars: rebalancing trade, stabilising conflict zones through economic tools, reindustrialising the US, and securing critical supply chains.

Helberg described silicon and semiconductors as the “lifeblood” of modern technology, with the initiative focused on coordinated investments in chip fabrication plants, data centres, and mineral processing facilities across allied nations.

The inaugural summit included countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, Israel, the UAE and Australia, along with participation from Taiwan, the European Union, Canada and the OECD—regions that anchor much of the global semiconductor ecosystem.

Analysts note that India could join Pax Silica at a later stage, similar to its entry into the US-led Minerals Security Partnership in 2023. That initiative focuses on securing supplies of lithium, cobalt and rare earths, sectors where China currently dominates global processing.

Pax Silica, observers say, reflects Washington’s broader effort to reduce dependence on China across the technology value chain, treating supply chain resilience not just as an economic priority, but as a matter of national security.