Spurt in tie-ups with ‘trusted’ West as critical tech merges as important matrix of power: Jaishankar

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, July 30

Talk of a “chips war” may be overblown but critical and emerging technologies (CET) have become an important matrix of power which is why India is conducting wide range of global interactions on the subject, especially with trusted partners like the US, the Quad, Australia, Japan, the EU and France, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Gandhinagar while speaking at ‘SemiconIndia Conference 2023’ on Sunday.

Focusing on India’s role in critical and emerging technologies, he said technology trade is not just trade; it is as much as about political science because CET transforms the very nature of economic and social activities. India needs to become more deeply embedded in global value chains and also focus on the semiconductor domain at a time when there has been a re-emergence of export controls as a response to strategic assertions of economic strength.

“Who invents, who manufactures, what are the market shares, where are the resources, who has the skills, where is the talent pool — these are increasingly the crucial questions. How to do business needs to be tempered with where and with whom to do it,’’ he said while referring to India-US MoU on Semiconductor Supply Chain, commitments by three US companies in chips manufacturing, membership of the Minerals Security Partnership, pact for co-research between Bharat 6G and the American NextG Alliance, the Artemis Accords and Joint Indo-US Quantum Coordination Mechanism.

The Quad also agreed on Principles on Critical and Emerging Technology Standards to foster common technology standards, and with Japan, there is a Memorandum of Cooperation promoting design, manufacturing, equipment research, talent development and industrial resilience. There is an ongoing Critical Minerals Investment Partnership with Australia; India and the EU held their first meeting of the Technology and Trade Council; and with France, India issued the “Horizon 2047’’ vision document.

These partnerships were struck after realising the serious over-concentration of production in different domains of CET which generated anxiety about reliable and resilient supply chains.  In the technology and manufacturing worlds, there could be an era of re-globalisation with many more centres of production, one which is more collaborative.

“It is essential that those of us who are comfortable working with each other enhance our collaboration,’’ said Jaishankar.