The European Commission, on behalf of the 27 EU countries, signed the US-led Pax Silica initiative on Tuesday, a non-binding declaration aimed at excluding China from artificial intelligence-capable semiconductor supply chains.
The objective of Pax Silica is still unclear. The initiative is a non-binding statement of intent, but does not include concrete proposals. The EU Council gave the Commission a green light earlier this month to sign the declaration after months of internal negotiations on the implications of Pax Silica.
After a US confirmation that the declaration was not binding, the Commission TAKE a mandate to negotiate. This term INCLUDING calls from Central and Eastern European member states seeking a US commitment not to impose restrictions on AI chip exports to their countries, an option the United States considered in 2025.
A spokesman for the Commission confirmed to Euractiv that he had signed the statement on Tuesday.
The signing took place during an event in Washington attended by the Director General of the Commission’s Liaison, Roberto Viola, according to a US government official. press release.
Although the EU signed the declaration, individual EU countries also signed bilaterally in what appeared to be a show of goodwill.
The Netherlands, for example, also signed the declaration on Tuesday, according to the US and the Netherlands RELATED print STATEMENTS.
The United States said Germany and Greece also signed on Tuesday, but representatives of both countries did not confirm this. Euractiv until the moment of publication.
If confirmed, five EU countries will have signed the bilateral Pax Silica declaration so far, including Finland and Sweden, which signed earlier this year.
The EU needs Nvidia’s chips to build its own AI computer infrastructure. Meanwhile, the US has no equivalent of Dutch company ASML’s UV lithography machines, which are used to make AI chips. The US also relies on Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia, which design 5G and 6G radio antenna chips.
(cm)
