Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg on the U.S. AI agenda, securing U.S. supply chain
Speakers
Jacob Helberg
— Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs
Summary
Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, joins Squawk Box from CES to discuss the U.S. AI agenda and supply-chain security. He outlines the administration's three-pronged AI strategy: innovation leadership, market-share gains, and securing the silicon-to-compute supply chain through the Pax Silica coalition. Helberg highlights China's dominance in rare earths, smartphone manufacturing, and legacy chips as unsustainable concentrations, and says Pax Silica will create strategic investment pipelines for infrastructure and energy projects. He notes more countries are expected to join the coalition.
- Jacob Helberg discusses U.S. AI policy and supply-chain security at CES.
- U.S. strategy has three prongs: innovation, market share, and supply-chain security.
- Pax Silica coalition includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, Australia, and the UK.
- China controls 90% of refined rare earths, 85% of smartphone manufacturing, and almost half of legacy chip production.
- Helberg says such geographic concentration is unsustainable and must be de-risked.
- Pax Silica aims to create strategic investment pipelines for projects and energy infrastructure.
- More countries are expected to join the coalition in coming weeks.
- AI already accounts for over a third of U.S. GDP growth, according to Helberg.
Ideas
AI compute demand drives secular investment theme.
The 21st century economy is increasingly running on compute and silicon, with more than a third of U.S. GDP growth already coming from the AI boom and AI raising productivity. The Trump administration has made it official policy to win the AI race, and State Department efforts like Pax Silica aim to secure the entire silicon-to-compute supply chain, creating strategic investment pipelines for the next trillion-dollar opportunities and reliable suppliers.
Rare earth de-risking creates supply-chain opportunity.
China controls roughly 90% of refined rare earth minerals, and that geographic concentration is not sustainable. Pax Silica is designed to de-risk supply chains and direct strategic investment pipelines toward projects and reliable non-China suppliers, creating a policy tailwind for rare earth/critical mineral supply diversification.
Pipelines target AI infrastructure and energy.
Pax Silica is creating strategic investment pipelines in coordination with advanced economies to identify projects, infrastructure, and energy projects. This gives the private sector a roadmap to the next trillion-dollar opportunities and reliable vendors and suppliers, supporting a policy-driven investment theme in AI-related infrastructure and energy.
