AI SPARK (Pax Silica Initiative)

AI SPARK (Pax Silica Initiative) is sponsored by U.S. Department of State. This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

State Department Expands Pax Silica Initiative at 2026 Summit | Brownstein State Department Expands Pax Silica Initiative at 2026 Summit Brownstein Client Alert , June 29, 2026 On June 25 and 26, State Department Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg hosted the 2026 Pax Silica Summit in Washington, D. C.

, bringing together Pax Silica Declaration signatories, representatives from other partner economies and executives from leading artificial intelligence (AI) and technology companies. The summit saw an expansion of the U.S.-led initiative, with 10 additional partners signing the Pax Silica Declaration: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the European Union, Germany, Greece, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Panama.

The new signatories bring the Pax Silica initiative to 24 members. Taiwan also attended the summit as a non-signatory participant and has endorsed the declaration’s principles through a separate U.S.-Taiwan economic security statement . The Trump administration launched Pax Silica in December 2025 as the State Department’s flagship initiative on AI and supply-chain security.

The initiative is intended to build a coalition of allied and trusted partners around secure supply chains for critical minerals, energy inputs, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, AI infrastructure and related technology systems.

According to Under Secretary Helberg, the initiative reflects the administration’s view that the AI economy requires a dedicated economic-security framework that is more targeted than existing multilateral bodies such as the G7 or G20.

Pax Silica members are expected to coordinate on supply-chain opportunities and vulnerabilities across 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 supply chains.

The framework also contemplates joint ventures, strategic co-investment opportunities, limits on foreign adversary access to sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure, and broader efforts to build trusted technology ecosystems among aligned economies.

Since Pax Silica’s launch, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Sweden, Finland, the Philippines and Norway joined the initiative before the June summit, which brought in a broader group of Latin American, European and Central Asian partners. European involvement was initially contentious, with France opposing the European Union’s participation, but EU members approved the signing of the declaration on June 8.

The Netherlands, which joined shortly before the summit, said Pax Silica would help strengthen resilience across the AI and chip value chain, from critical raw materials to finished products, and said EU participation was important given the EU’s role in technological leadership. Additional Summit Announcements The summit also produced a Joint Statement on AI Opportunity signed by the United States and 34 other nations.

The statement aligned participants around a pro-growth and pro-innovation approach to AI regulation, with a focus on “empowering builders, startups, developers and the private sector while securing global AI supply chains.

” The signatories included Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Additionally, the State Department said it plans to open a competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity for a pilot Pax Silica AI Assistance Project for Panama. The project would support development of a system to verify the provenance and movement of sensitive AI-related goods that transit Panama, including semiconductors, AI infrastructure, critical minerals and related products.

The proposed system would be designed to connect with Panama’s existing customs, port and shipping-tracking infrastructure, with the goal of speeding clearance for trusted cargo. The State Department said the Panama pilot could later serve as a model for similar systems in other Pax Silica countries and economies.

Under Secretary Helberg also announced the Foundry School initiative, a workforce development project created with Stanford University. The initiative will begin with a seminar series at Stanford featuring founders and executives in advanced manufacturing, paired with a new advanced manufacturing curriculum jointly developed by Stanford and the State Department.

The curriculum is intended to be available for adoption by educational institutions across Pax Silica economies and to provide a common framework for industrial capabilities linked to economic strength and national security. Italy did not sign the Pax Silica Declaration at the summit, but Italian officials have indicated that the country intends to join.

Ambassador Armando Varricchio, Italy’s special envoy for innovation, attended the Washington summit as an observer and signed the Joint Statement on AI Opportunity. Ambassador Varricchio told Italian media that Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would sign a memorandum of understanding for Italy to join Pax Silica at the first available opportunity.

The summit underscores Pax Silica’s shift from a declaration-based framework to a broader economic-security platform. In a recent interview with the Financial Times , Under Secretary Helberg described Pax Silica as a purpose-built grouping for the AI economy and contrasted it with broader forums that he said were not designed to manage AI supply chains and technology deployment.

He also framed the initiative as an alternative to approaches centered on “digital sovereignty,” arguing instead for trusted international ecosystems that allow partners to build AI capacity without duplicating technology stacks across separate national systems. The administration is also seeking to attach more concrete funding and project pipelines to Pax Silica.

The State Department has announced plans to work with Congress to secure $250 million in foreign assistance funding for a Pax Silica Fund to support critical minerals extraction and processing, critical infrastructure and manufacturing assets.

Kazakhstan is expected to be one focus of the next phase, with Under Secretary Helberg saying the United States and Kazakhstan would announce an economic security zone intended to expand mineral-security opportunities in Central Asia and provide greater legal and regulatory certainty for investors, similar to a separate effort in the Philippines.

Pax Silica also sits alongside other Trump administration initiatives more explicitly focused on rare earths and critical minerals.

In February, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) sought public comment on the design of a plurilateral agreement on trade in critical minerals and related policy measures to strengthen supply-chain resilience, including potential mechanisms to support demand for market-based production, accelerate new supply, address non-market practices and coordinate trade policy with like-minded partners.

Brownstein’s International and Critical Minerals teams bring deep experience in the critical minerals space and work closely with the agencies involved in advancing U.S. financing, trade and diplomatic engagement on critical minerals. We coordinate with private industry, investors and foreign governments to support supply chain security, navigate U.S. financing tools and identify opportunities for public-private partnerships.

Our team also has extensive experience connecting private industry leaders with U.S. government officials on issues related to supply chain security, global investment strategies, project financing, offtake structures and other issues impacting clients.

We are prepared to assist clients in assessing project eligibility, coordinating with relevant agencies and developing strategies to secure federal support in a rapidly evolving investment environment. If you have any questions, please contact the authors of this alert.

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