Qatar joins US-led pact to secure AI supply chain

• Doha signs up to Pax Silica
• UAE expected to join this week
• UK and Israel already on board

Qatar has joined a US-led initiative designed to secure global artificial intelligence infrastructure and supply chains.

Launched in December, the Pax Silica programme is led by the US Department of State and aims to cover the supply chain from critical minerals and energy to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI infrastructure and logistics.

Qatar signed up to Pax Silica on Monday. Its membership will involve the joint deployment of capital into mineral security, the modernisation and expansion of logistics infrastructure and the acceleration of partnerships in AI, data centres and compute capacity with the US, according to the State Department.

The pact promises to advance a “new economic security consensus among allies and trusted partners” of the United States.

The UAE is expected to join the initiative later this week, Reuters has reported.

Other signatories include Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the UK and Israel.

“We are gathering the nations that possess the capital, the industrial capacity and the strategic will to secure a shared technological future defined by sovereign nations, free from coercive powers who would turn our supply chains into a geopolitical weapon,” said a State Department press release.

The initiative’s listed core objectives include reducing “coercive dependencies”, exploring joint investment, protecting sensitive technologies and building trusted digital infrastructure.

A think tank in Canberra, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, states that Pax Silica explicitly encourages co-ordination across software platforms, AI foundation models, connectivity and network infrastructure, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, logistics, minerals processing and energy.

In a press briefing in early January, Jacob Helberg, US undersecretary for economic affairs, outlined the contribution each signatory made: Australia presides over significant critical mineral deposits, Israel offers advanced cybersecurity capabilities, South Korea manufacturers semiconductors and the UK hosts advanced AI research capacity.

The UAE and Qatari sovereign wealth funds manage close to $3 trillion in capital collectively and are aggressively pursuing AI investments.

The UAE has long sought greater access to the most advanced AI chips produced by American company Nvidia. In late 2025 the White House cleared exports of advanced Nvidia chips to Abu Dhabi-backed AI company G42.