Philippines, UAE forge tech alliance under USA-led ‘Pax Silica’ initiative

The Philippines is strengthening its energy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) footprint; and, relative to its April accession to the USA-led Pax Silica Initiative (Pax Silica), its Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) undersecretary (vice minister) Dr. Ceferino Rodolfo was in the UAE, another Pax Silica member, on May 5 and 6 to meet with the country’s leading energy and high-tech companies for the investments.

In particular and according to a media release, the concurrent DTI-Board of Investments (BOI) managing head, met with Masdar chief investment officer Raphael Barreau and DAMAC Digital senior vice president Troy Gilson.

The Pax Silica Initiative was organised by the USA and launched on December 12, 2025 in Washington, DC.

The other original members are the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Israel. The UAE is its ninth member having signed the Pax Silica Declaration on January 14, 2026.

According to “The Diplomat” which discussed the formal entry of the Philippines as its 13th member, Pax Silica is about how the five-month old aggrupation would work around a sustainable and secure global supply chain of critical minerals which are the “raw materials used to manufacture advanced electronics such as semiconductors, computers, and batteries” – the essentials in renewable energy transition as well as AI-based digital ecosystems.

The Philippines came into the “fold” as it has “significant reserves of nickel, copper and cobalt.” According to the United States of America (USA)-Department of Commerce International Trade Administration, the country “holds an estimated $170 billion in nickel deposits and approximately 4.8 million metric tonnes of nickel reserves.”

The copper “major deposits” are in the Mountain Province in Northern Luzon and in the Mindanao Peninsula.

For this and in agreement with the USA, and prior to the April 16 announcement, was the establishment of the 4,000-acre (1,618.743-hectare) Artificial Intelligence industrial hub project situated in the “Luzon Economic Corridor.” Aside from the Luzon AI-native hub possible investments, Rodolfo and Barreau discussed Masdar’s ongoing projects in the Philippines valued at $15-billion. These are covered by the Memorandum of Understanding with the DTI-BOI, signed on the sidelines of the January 2025 “Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.” These support the Philippines’ Energy Transition Programme through the development of solar, wind and battery energy storage systems of up to 35 per cent by 2030 and 50 per cent by 2040.

Meanwhile, Masdar is actively involved in powering Abu Dhabi’s Stargate UAE project with five-giggawatt renewables and 19-giggawatt hour battery energy storage system.

The talks with Damac Digital’s Gilson, concerned the progress on the construction of a 250-megawatt data centre, eyed in the Southern Tagalog province of Laguna. The facility would be the third for the Dubai-based firm in Southeast Asia. The others are in Thailand and Indonesia.

The Laguna project is a result of the January 2026 Abu Dhabi Working Visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who met with DAMAC chairman Hussain Sajwani.

From the press release, Vice Minister Rodolfo said: “The Luzon AI-Native Hub with the Pax Silica alliance integrates UAE’s renewable energy expertise and data centre capabilitiesfor the next-gen manufacturing.”

“Our collaborations with industry leaders such as Masdar and DAMAC underscore our commitment to transform the Philippines into a premier destination for AI-driven technologies and sustainable industrial acceleration.”

Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Alfonso Ferdinand Ver highlighted that mutual inclusion in the Pax Silica alliance is a force multiplier for existing bilateral agreements: “The Philippines’ accession in the Pax Silica alliance, where the UAE is also a key party, further solidifies our bilateral trade and investment frameworks such as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.”

“This signifies that the Philippines and the UAE are no longer just traditional trading partners; they are now strategic tech-allies,” Ver also stated.

While in the UAE, Rodolfo also met with Tristar Group, iSON Xperiences, AIM Congress, and The Hub Trading LLC to leverage the Philippines-UAE CEPA as the primary engine for high-tech trade and investments.

The other Pax Silica member-countries Rodolfo visited in the region were Israel and Qatar which joined on January 13, 2026. He was a participant at the April 28 to 29 “Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Critical Minerals Forum” in Istanbul, Turkey.