US tags Pax Silica initiative in Philippines as top priority — DoF

By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Senior Reporter

THE United States has identified its Pax Silica-related initiatives in the Philippines as one of its top priorities, with Manila looking to generate hundreds and thousands of jobs from a “generational investment,” the Department of Finance (DoF) said.

Finance Secretary Frederick D. Go, who met with US Ambassador to the Philippines Lee Lipton on July 9, noted the project’s importance to Washington.

“He expressed that on the economic side, the Pax Silica project is on top of the priority list of the Americans,” he told reporters on Friday.

Citing his talks with Mr. Lipton, the Finance chief said the US is keen to fast-track developments related to Pax Silica in the Philippines.

“If we’re going to do this, we might as well do it as fast as possible so that we can provide jobs and be a significant player in the technology of the future,” Mr. Go said.
He added that the Philippines’ inclusion in Pax Silica is expected to generate “hundreds and thousands of jobs” for Filipinos, as the country seeks to become a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI) and chips manufacturing.

“If we want to be a player in the AI industry in the future, we need to start somewhere,” he said. “This is really a great start because once you have the ecosystem, one thing leads to another.”

In April, the Philippines joined Pax Silica, a US-led initiative to secure global AI supply chains and counter China’s growing tech manufacturing sector.

As part of Pax Silica, the Manila and Washington are developing a 1,618-hectare AI-native hub in New Clark City in Tarlac, which is expected to attract AI and chip manufacturing investments.

“I think both sides are very excited to get this moving along, because I really believe this could be a generational type of project,” Mr. Go said.

The Philippines is one of 23 signatories under the Pax Silica, which includes Argentina, Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Go earlier said the Philippines is hoping to sign a framework agreement under the Pax Silica initiative before the year ends.