Mubadala joins Pax Silica-linked investment fund: Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment is part of an investment consortium that will invest in projects to enhance supply chain resilience across energy and critical minerals under a Pax Silica-linked fund, Bloomberg quotes US State Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg as saying. The US plans to kickstart the initiative with a USD 250 mn commitment, while Mubadala’s commitment remains undisclosed.

Who else is involved? A who’s who of asset managers and sovereign wealth funds that includes SoftBank Group and Temasek Holdings, overseeing pools of up to USD 1 tn in assets under management.

The priority? Securing reliable access to energy resources and rare earth elements for the US and its strategic partners, with particular emphasis on mineral security, logistics networks, and energy infrastructure. Consortium members will review a pipeline of potential projects and coordinate joint investment decisions, Helberg said.

That’s exactly the type of initiative we expected to come under the broader Pax Silica framework, a US-led coalition which the UAE joined in January, that aims to secure supply chains necessary for the AI sector. The framework also includes Japan, India, South Korea, the UK, Qatar, and Singapore, and has recently expanded to incorporate energy infrastructure projects in response to disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz.

It’s not the first initiative under Pax Silica: The UAE and the US have also recently agreed to formalize investment in critical minerals. The framework agreement involves coordinating policy support and mobilizing public and private funding across mining, separation, processing, recycling, and advanced downstream industrial uses.

Why the timing matters

Supply chain resilience has been the topic du jour for a while now as the ongoing Iran war disrupts countless industry supply chains, including semiconductor manufacturing, a cornerstone of Pax Silica.

South Korea produces about two-thirds of the world’s memory chips and relies on the Middle East for some of its key materials, including helium from Qatar, which is extracted as a byproduct of natural gas processing. With gas production in Qatar being heavily disrupted, it’s no surprise that helium prices have doubled since the war began.

A lot is riding on critical minerals for the UAE: State AI firm G42 expects shipments of advanced US chips, “mostly Nvidia,” along with Cerebras and AMD, in the coming months. These chips are essential for the country’s data center projects, including the planned 5 GW Stargate UAE AI campus, part of Washington’s USD 500 bn Stargate program.

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