{"id":187316,"date":"2025-12-16T09:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/187316\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T09:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T09:57:07","slug":"virtual-press-briefing-with-jacob-helberg-under-secretary-of-state-for-economic-affairs-on-ai-supply-chain-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/187316\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Press Briefing with Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs on AI Supply Chain Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/www.state.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Audio_Virtual-Press-Briefing-with-Under-Secretary-Jacob-Helberg.m4a<\/a><\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Greetings from the U.S. Department of State\u2019s Asia Pacific Media Hub.\u00a0 It\u2019s my pleasure to welcome journalists to today\u2019s on-the-record briefing.\u00a0 Today we\u2019re honored to be joined by Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, who will discuss the newly announced Pax Silica Initiative.<\/p>\n

With that, let\u2019s get started.\u00a0 Under Secretary Helberg, I\u2019ll turn it over to you for opening remarks.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Thank you so much, Tim.\u00a0 So it\u2019s great to speak with everyone.\u00a0 I\u2019m excited to share a little bit more about Pax Silica, which is the first time that countries are organizing around compute, silica, and minerals and energy as a shared strategic asset.\u00a0 It was very exciting for me to sign the joint declaration with my colleagues from six other countries.\u00a0 We really see this as a watershed moment when allies got together in the midst of a global economy that is quickly reorganizing and undergoing the greatest reorganization since probably the invention of electricity.\u00a0 And ultimately, Pax Silica is about making sure that America and its partners build the rails of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

And ultimately, as we said, as I said during my opening remarks during the Pax Silica Summit, if the 20th century ran on oil and steel, the 21st century is going to run on compute and minerals, and so we\u2019re aligning our supply chains accordingly.<\/p>\n

So I want to make sure that we answer a lot of questions that all of you have about the initiative.\u00a0 We\u2019re very excited about it.\u00a0 And with that, I\u2019m happy to take as many questions as people have.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 All right.\u00a0 Thank you, Mr. Under Secretary.\u00a0 Our first question goes to Min Zhang Lim from The Straits Times.\u00a0 Please go ahead and unmute yourself and go ahead with your question.\u00a0 Mr. Lim, are you on the call?\u00a0 You\u2019ll need to unmute.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Hello?<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Yes, please go ahead.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Hi.\u00a0 Thank you, sir.\u00a0 Thanks for the opportunity.\u00a0 I\u2019m from The Straits Times in Singapore.\u00a0 My question is, what does the U.S. expect of each of the allies and partners in the alliance, or the summit?\u00a0 What do you expect each country to contribute?\u00a0 And from Singapore\u2019s perspective, it seems like it is a nonbinding kind of declaration.\u00a0 In your view, what is the level of commitment expected of each country, including Singapore?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 So the declaration that we signed was a series of high-level principles.\u00a0 So in the tech industry, we have this concept called first principles, which is really supposed to be the bedrock that anchors a lot of the downstream action that teams undertake together at most technology companies.<\/p>\n

We decided to agree on a series of first principles that would ultimately anchor a lot of the work and the strategy that we undertake together in order to confront the supply chain and economic security challenges that we all face as a group.\u00a0 We have \u2013 I went \u2013 soon after being sworn in, I went on a seven-country tour, including across ASEAN and APEC for both summits in Asia.\u00a0 And a theme that stood out that I kept hearing over and over again is economic security is national security.\u00a0 And all of the countries and leaders I met ranked economic security as one of their top concerns.\u00a0 So it was very clear that they all felt the pressure from supply chains that were increasingly buckling under new geopolitical realities.<\/p>\n

And the countries that we got together for Pax Silica \u2013 Japan, Korea, Australia, the UK, Singapore, and Israel \u2013 are all home to some of the most advanced technology ecosystems in the world.\u00a0 Singapore, as you know, has a very deep and rich semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem.\u00a0 Israel is known as the \u2013 one of the world\u2019s startup nations, with a very, very advanced technology ecosystem.\u00a0 Korea and Japan are major \u2013 are major manufacturers.\u00a0 They actually have very unique refining capabilities, and they have very advanced robotics ecosystems.<\/p>\n

So these countries were all essential to the conversation.\u00a0 We\u2019re very excited about this very creative coalition.\u00a0 Some people \u2013 some of the members of the press, I believe humorously, refer to this as a motley crew.\u00a0 And they\u2019re right, it\u2019s a very different combination of countries, but the reason is that we\u2019re facing unique challenges and the times are new, and therefore, with new challenges and new times call for new coalitions that are uniquely tailored to the era of artificial intelligence.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s exactly the kind of work that we undertook.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, we\u2019re going to be in very close contact with the key founding members of the Pax Silica Declaration, including Singapore.\u00a0 We are now shifting our attention to the implementation stage.\u00a0 And part of what that will entail will be the identification of having policy discussions on issues related to economic security as well as policy-level issues related to economic security and our respective policies and making sure that we are aligned as much as we can given our national circumstances.\u00a0 And then a second track will be focused on projects and investments and identifying areas where \u2013 and opportunities of co-investment as well as, potentially, joint ventures.<\/p>\n

And so we\u2019re going to have those discussions with our friends in Singapore over the weeks ahead, and I would anticipate some very exciting news in Q1 of next year.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you, sir.\u00a0 We\u2019ll go to our next questioner, Albert Lee of Korea Pro \u2013 if you wouldn\u2019t mind unmuting yourself and going ahead.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Hello, is this thing turned on?<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Go ahead, please.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Hi.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 All right, okay.\u00a0 So I have a few questions.\u00a0 The first is, how does this relate to the rare earths access agreements signed with Australia and Malaysia in October?\u00a0 Are these \u2013 or rather, how do they \u2013 do these agreements relate with Pax Silica?\u00a0 Are they related or separate but kind of in the same neighborhood when it comes to creating secure supply chains for rare earths, semiconductors, and other technologies critical to AI?<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Yeah, so it \u2013 Australia is an essential part of the supply chain, because it is a minerals superpower.\u00a0 And ultimately, we want to look at the silicon supply chain holistically, including in energy, minerals, manufacturing, as well as semiconductors.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we included Australia, because Australia is essential to the mineral refining process needed in order to do silicon fabrication.\u00a0 They contribute \u2013 they were essential; we had a whole session entirely devoted to critical minerals that Australia was essential to.<\/p>\n

And so ultimately, the work that\u2019s being done on critical minerals is directly feeding Pax Silica efforts.\u00a0 So our critical mineral bilateral agreement opens the door to a lot of bilateral investments, which ultimately, through Pax Silica, will help secure a broader ecosystem of aligned economies. \u00a0And so \u2013 and which is in our interest and it\u2019s also in the interest of Australia.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s exactly how we\u2019re coordinating with them.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you, sir.\u00a0 Our next question goes to Chris Gorin of TaiwanPlus.\u00a0 Please unmute yourself and go ahead.\u00a0 Mr. Gorin, please go ahead.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Hello, can you hear me?<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Under Secretary Helberg, thank you for taking my question.\u00a0 Last time you spoke with us, I believe it was the big earthquake in Taiwan, so I hope that this time is a little bit safer.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 So I think a lot of people in Taiwan, when the press release about Pax Silica was released, were quite surprised that a group, which is ostensibly about AI and silicon supply chains, didn\u2019t include Taiwan, which of course is the world\u2019s major supplier of advanced AI chips; and not only that, but in the list of partner companies, TSMC was not listed, which not only makes most of those chips but also is the source of the largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history for its facilities in Arizona.<\/p>\n

So I wanted to ask you, what are the criteria for being an official partner of Pax Silica, and is there a pathway for Taiwan to be brought in as a full participant?\u00a0 And then a second part to that question is that the \u2013 it did list Taiwan as giving guest contributions.\u00a0 So I wanted to ask what exactly were Taiwan\u2019s contributions to the summit, and how does that differ from what full members might be contributing to the initiative?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 So let me just start by correcting misperceptions.\u00a0 Taiwan was at the table and was absolutely present in all of the sessions in which one would expect Taiwan to play an important role, including in the manufacturing session as well as the semiconductor session.\u00a0 Taiwan was there and made essential contributions.<\/p>\n

We have a bilateral dialogue with Taiwan called the Economic and Prosperity Bilateral Dialogue that we are hosting early next year with our Taiwanese counterparts.\u00a0 We just had the first round \u2013 I think it was the day before \u2013 and so we didn\u2019t see the need to replicate another process on top of a dialogue that was already in flight, where we\u2019re already having a lot of very deep discussions.\u00a0 And ultimately, it\u2019s because Taiwan is so essential to the supply chain that we viewed it critical to first be able to have this space and have a lot of the most important conversations on a bilateral basis before broadening a lot of the issue sets that we\u2019re talking about in a bilateral \u2013 in a multilateral format.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, for all of the reasons that you mentioned, Taiwan does have invaluable expertise to contribute.\u00a0 So we did extend an invitation, which they accepted.\u00a0 They attended and ultimately they contributed a great deal to the meeting.<\/p>\n

What I would \u2013 what I would say is the other point that I would add about the meeting is we\u2019re not \u2013 this \u2013 the declaration, one of the reasons why it\u2019s so meaningful is it\u2019s really not just a piece of paper, and we\u2019re not just writing code, so to speak.\u00a0 We\u2019re \u2013 the goal is to pour concrete, smelt steel, and rack servers, and ultimately build the physical backbone of the 21st century.\u00a0 And the goal is not to write a whitepaper.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s why we \u2013 all of the work we do is entirely anchored around infrastructure projects.\u00a0 And so we want to ultimately maximize the platforms that we use towards the most likely outcomes of delivering infrastructure projects.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s the basis for our entire approach.<\/p>\n

The last point that I would add is this was a first meeting, and it is likely \u2013 there will likely be many more.\u00a0 The appetite and the reception of the meeting was just \u2013 had an enormous amount of enthusiasm and support.\u00a0 And so we\u2019re still in the process of determining membership of new members.\u00a0 There are \u2013 we expect to announce several new additions to the declaration in Q1 of next year that are based on conversations that we\u2019re already having.\u00a0 So I would just take a deep breath, give us a little bit of room to let sensitive conversations unfold on a bilateral basis, and in Q1 of next year we\u2019re expecting to roll out several new members of the Pax Silica Declaration.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you, sir.\u00a0 And next question goes to James Mayger of Bloomberg News.\u00a0 Please unmute yourself and go ahead.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Sorry.\u00a0 Thank you for taking my question today.\u00a0 So one question I have is how you plan to balance each nation\u2019s own national security industrial needs and necessities with the other members.\u2019\u00a0 How will you coordinate spending and development so that Japan and the U.S. aren\u2019t competing against each other to get investment from TSMC, for example?<\/p>\n

And specifically on rare earths, the U.S. announced a massive support package for MP Materials earlier this year, and it didn\u2019t seem like there was much discussion with Australia before that even though Australia is doing a very similar thing, trying to support the domestic rare earth industry.\u00a0 Would you plan to coordinate better on those kind of industrial policy measures going forward as part of this broader effort?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 So I think a lot of investments will ultimately be tethered to offtake agreements in order to avoid these types of zero-sum issues.\u00a0 With that being said \u2013 so just to expound a little bit on that thought, part of the idea is ultimately if investments are made in a smelter, it\u2019s those investments that are deployed in conjunction with offtake agreements of the refined minerals or metals coming out of that smelter, which will ultimately make it easier for the private sector to decide which providers or vendors make the most sense for their business.<\/p>\n

With that being said, I think I would be really hard-pressed \u2013 this \u2013 we should \u2013 I think we all understand that now is not the time for zero-sum thinking because right now 90 percent of the world\u2019s rare earth minerals are controlled by a single player, which we all view as not being sustainable over the long term.\u00a0 And therefore any business activity that we \u2013 that we get currently, will ultimately not be \u2013 this isn\u2019t about competing against each other.\u00a0 It\u2019s about competing against the incumbent that actually occupies 90 percent of the market.\u00a0 And so it\u2019s \u2013 there\u2019s a lot, a lot of room for all of us to expand our own productive capacities before we actually get to a point where we\u2019re competitive with each other.\u00a0 The only player with which we\u2019re competing, with which we\u2019re all competing with right now, is not Singapore, Korea, Japan, the UK, or Australia, or Israel.\u00a0 It\u2019s someone else, and I think everyone understands who that is.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Our next question goes to Kenneth Basilio of BusinessWorld in the Philippines.\u00a0 Please unmute yourself and go ahead.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Hello, Mr. Under Secretary.\u00a0 I\u2019m joining the briefing from Manila, and there are a few questions that interest the Philippines.\u00a0 Firstly, the Philippines is not part of the Pax Silica Initiative.\u00a0 Why is this and are there any pathways for one to join the initiative, given its deep ties with the U.S. as well as its critical minerals and lower-end semiconductor position in the value chain?<\/p>\n

Also, what investment opportunities might the U.S. and partners see for the Philippines in advancing the initiative?\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Sorry, do you mind repeating that last question?\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t hear you.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 What investment opportunities might the U.S. and its partners see for the Philippines in advancing the initiative?<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Yeah, absolutely.\u00a0 So I actually \u2013 I met with my Filipino counterpart \u2013 I think it was twice \u2013 and we view the Philippines as an essential and valued partner.\u00a0 We are very eager and look forward to engaging the Philippines on Pax Silica specifically.\u00a0 I have had several conversations with my Filipino counterparts on the issue of supply chain security and am incredibly excited by the enthusiasm that my counterpart showed at the idea of deepening supply chain security collaboration with the U.S.<\/p>\n

So again, this first meeting is the starting point.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an end point.\u00a0 We do plan to add more players and partners to this effort.\u00a0 Ultimately, there are a lot of partners that are needed around this discussion.\u00a0 Especially when it comes to manufacturing in minerals, the universe of partners is larger than this initial set of seven or eight countries, and so we do plan to reach out to the Philippines on this.\u00a0 I have already spoken with them around supply chain security issues and have had very positive exchanges with them and am very optimistic that we \u2013 through discussions with my counterparts we will find a path for them to join in an expeditious way.\u00a0 Ultimately, I plan to extend an invitation to my counterpart to Washington in the first half of next year in order to be able to resume these discussions face to face, and we are very confident that they\u2019re going to be very fruitful exchanges.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 We have time for one more question, and it will go to Stu Woo of The Wall Street Journal.\u00a0 Please unmute yourself and go ahead.<\/p>\n

QUESTION:\u00a0 Hey, Under Secretary.\u00a0 Thanks for doing this.\u00a0 I wanted to get your sense of where the U.S. stood with China in the AI rivalry, but I wanted to decode it in a way that an American audience could understand.\u00a0 So I wanted to ask you:\u00a0 If this rivalry were an NFL game and this is halftime, what do you think the score is and why?<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 So I\u2019m not going to build off of the football analogy, but \u00a0I will say this, that our strategy is to create a competitive edge so steep, so insurmountable that no adversary or competitor can scale it.\u00a0 That\u2019s why our goal is to make America the arsenal of AI in this century.\u00a0 We are adopting a strategy to \u2013 that has attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment in the United States.\u00a0 As a country we\u2019re experiencing the largest industrial buildout in over 150 years, since the first Industrial Revolution.\u00a0 We are moving at lightning speed to forge trade deals, which is leading to a historic decrease in our overall trade deficit, which matters a lot for reindustrialization.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re now creating the kind of coalition that we need in order to meaningfully make progress on supply chains with countries that have true technology ecosystems, unique capabilities to bring to bear, and we\u2019ve been able to forge a new consensus.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll remember, since you\u2019re with The Wall Street Journal, back in the day 25 years ago people used to talk about the Washington Consensus.\u00a0 Today we are seeing a new \u2013 a true new consensus that is being born out of Washington and has spread throughout the world that is embraced, which is that economic policy flows from national security.\u00a0 We need to have an economic policy that is tethered to the \u2013 to national security realities, and ultimately, everyone understands that the countries that lead in AI and in technology will have the larger economy and the stronger military.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why we are totally committed as the U.S. and as a group, as a Pax Silica group, in order to make sure that we build the rails of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you, Mr. Under Secretary.\u00a0 Now I\u2019ll turn it back to you if you have any closing remarks before we wrap up.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 I want to express my appreciation for everyone\u2019s time.\u00a0 I want to say that for us, Pax Silica and economic security is not a line item, it\u2019s a prerequisite for national survival.\u00a0 And ultimately, the era of free trade surrender is over.\u00a0 The era of American industrial revival is now underway, and the efforts being undertaken by this administration demonstrates that every single week.<\/p>\n

MODERATOR:\u00a0 Thank you so much, Mr. Under Secretary.\u00a0 Thank you all for joining us.\u00a0 We\u2019ll provide a transcript of today\u2019s briefing to journalists as soon as it is available.\u00a0 If you have any feedback or further questions, please feel free to contact us at AsiaPacMedia@state.gov<\/a>.\u00a0 Thank you again, and we hope you can join us for another briefing soon.\u00a0 Take care.<\/p>\n

UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

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