The UAE and Qatar are about to plug into Washington’s silicon play. The two Gulf states are set to formally join Pax Silica, a US-led effort to secure AI and semiconductor supply chains, in the coming days, US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg told Reuters. Qatar will sign the declaration today, while the UAE should be onboarded on Thursday.

In context: The UAE had attended the US’ inaugural Pax Silica Summit last December, which resulted in the launching of an initiative aimed at aligning policy, projects, and investments across critical minerals, advanced manufacturing, and data infrastructure to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals.

Why it matters

For Gulf economies, the move marks a shift from hydrocarbon-centric security toward what Helberg calls “silicon statecraft” — focusing more on national AI and data infrastructure as a powerful economic tool.

The UAE is already inside Washington’s chip perimeter: The US recently clearedexports of advanced Nvidia chips to Abu Dhabi-backed AI firm G42, unlocking large-scale compute capacity that underpins projects like the 5 GW Stargate UAE AI campus. The project is developed with US partners including OpenAI and Nvidia and due to begin coming online in 3Q 2026, as part of the US’ USD 500 bn Stargate initiative.

What to watch

Pax Silica is still in its early stages of formation, with the initiative currently focusing on expanding membership, building projects and coordinating policies, Helberg said. The real test will be bringing the various countries involved — currently Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Britain, the US, and Australia — in line with common policy frameworks and onboarded across major strategic projects.

The US and Israel are already planning a Pax Silica-linked strategic framework, including an industrial park in Israel to accelerate projects. Discussions are also reportedly underway for projects that would help modernize trade and logistics routes, like the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor.

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