TL;DRThe US and Philippines are moving “very, very quickly” on a 4,000-acre AI and supply chain hub in New Clark City, the first physical facility under the Pax Silica initiative. Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg visited the site with American companies, while the Philippines rejected a US request for diplomatic immunity at the facility.
The United States and the Philippines are moving “very, very quickly” on a planned 4,000-acre artificial intelligence and supply chain hub in New Clark City, north of Manila, according to Jacob Helberg, the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. Helberg visited the proposed site on Monday with more than a dozen American companies, the first high-level inspection of land that is intended to become the inaugural “AI-native industrial acceleration hub” under the Pax Silica initiative, Washington’s flagship programme for securing AI and semiconductor supply chains among allied nations.
The hub, located within the Luzon Economic Corridor, is designed to support emerging industries in AI, digital infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and critical mineral processing. The Philippines joined Pax Silica in April as the alliance’s 13th member, alongside Australia, Finland, India, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. The Clark site is the first physical facility to be developed under the programme, and its progress, or lack of it, will test whether Pax Silica can move from diplomatic declarations to operational infrastructure.
