The United States plans to commit $250 million towards a new investment vehicle aimed at securing critical mineral and energy supply chains, as Washington steps up efforts to counter geopolitical risks and resource bottlenecks.
The funding would form part of a broader consortium backed by sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors with a combined $1 trillion in assets under management, including Japan’s SoftBank Group (TYO: 9984), Singapore’s Temasek and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co., according to Bloomberg News on Monday citing the U.S. under secretary of state for economic affairs.
The initiative will focus on mineral security, logistics, and likely energy security infrastructure, with the U.S. and its partners reviewing a pipeline of projects designed to ensure reliable access to critical inputs such as rare earths and battery metals, the official, Jacob Helberg, told the news agency.
Pax Silica
“The fund is part of a broader U.S.-led supply-chain alliance known as Pax Silica, which has expanded to include energy infrastructure projects following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz” in the Iran war, BMO Capital Markets said in a note on Tuesday. The move underscores Washington’s push to reduce dependence on concentrated supply chains, particularly those dominated by China.
The effort reflects a growing alignment between governments and large pools of private capital to finance projects that might otherwise struggle to advance due to scale, risk or permitting timelines.
The announcement adds to a wave of Western policy support for critical minerals, where governments are increasingly using public funds to crowd in private investment and accelerate development of strategic projects.
Congress hadn’t yet been notified of the $250 million in funding, Helberg said, and U.S. government websites weren’t yet showing the announcement.
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