The US and India launch the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies, including cooperating on quantum computing, AI, 5G, and chips, to counter China
a security grouping of the US, Japan, Australia & India. https://www.ft.com/... Gokul Sahni / @gokul_sahni : “One US official said the technology initiative, coupled with other actions, meant that 2023 would “probably be the most consequential year in US-India diplomacy”, adding that India was “the key” to US ambitions in the region.” 1/3 https://twitter.com/... Daniel Twining / @dctwining : “This is another big foundational piece of an overall strategy to put the entire democratic world in the Indo-Pacific in a position of strength.” 🇺🇸🇮🇳 —@jakejsullivan https://www.ft.com/... Rohit Sharma / @dcwaladesi : .@JakeSullivan46 says, “Part of the U.S. plan is to help India grow its legacy chip-making capabilities while continuing the flow of top engineers that study and work in the United States”. Except about 90% Indians are stuck in #greencardbacklog https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Context & Ripple Effects
India’s technology-industrial push was already constrained by concerns over chip-manufacturing expertise and unreliable logistics and utilities in its $10B chip-incentive effort. The new US partnership adds an external technology and talent channel to that domestic agenda.
Later coverage places the move in a longer supply-chain arc: the two countries announced plans for an Indian chip plant and India joined the US-led Pax Silica supply-chain initiative.
First-order effects
- The United States and India formalize cooperation across quantum computing, AI, 5G and chips, with the US committed to supporting India’s legacy-chip capabilities.
- Indian engineers retain a stated channel to study and work in the United States, tying the partnership’s technology agenda to talent mobility.
Second-order effects
- India’s chip incentives gain a complementary US partnership, while the earlier warnings on manufacturing know-how and infrastructure remain the practical constraints on converting policy into production.
- China faces a more coordinated US-India technology posture in the Indo-Pacific, extending competition from security alignment into chips, networks and advanced computing.
Third-order effects
- The partnership helps shift US-India relations toward technology supply chains and technical talent as strategic assets, a direction reinforced by India’s later Pax Silica participation.
- If these arrangements continue to produce shared manufacturing and secure-supply-chain projects, India’s role in US-aligned critical-technology networks will become more institutionalized than ad hoc diplomatic coordination.
The trend: Technology cooperation is becoming a core instrument of Indo-Pacific security alignment, with chips, AI and technical talent treated as strategic infrastructure.