Rare Earths & Semiconductors: Jaishankar's Korea-Mongolia Mission and India's New Geopolitical Playbook

One partner strengthens access to critical inputs. The other strengthens access to advanced industrial capabilities. Together, they help diversify strategic dependencies while enhancing economic security.

From Mongolia's windswept mineral-rich steppes to South Korea's gleaming semiconductor corridors, Dr S Jaishankar's next mission traces the contours of a new Asian century. The External Affairs Minister's four-day visit to Mongolia and South Korea will not merely be yet another diplomatic tour. The trip will reflect India's multidimensional approach towards power.

Experts argue that countries that secure minerals will build industries, those that master technology will shape markets, and the few that achieve both will shape the century. That proposition lies at the heart of this diplomatic venture.

For decades, foreign policy was largely viewed through the lenses of military alliances, strategic rivalries and territorial disputes. Today, the grammar of power has changed. Critical minerals, semiconductor supply chains, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and industrial resilience now carry strategic weight comparable to armies and borders. 

Geopolitical competition is unfolding in mines, laboratories and factory floors as much as in diplomatic conference rooms. India's engagements in Ulaanbaatar and Seoul are a reflection of this shifting reality.

The New Map of Power

The Indo-Pacific has become the principal arena where economics and geopolitics now intersect. The pandemic exposed the fragility of concentrated supply chains. The Ukraine conflict revealed the risks associated with resource dependence. Growing technological rivalry between major powers has made access to strategic inputs a matter of national security. Amidst such unrest, New Delhi has begun redrawing its external partnerships with unusual clarity.

For India, the objective is straightforward as it seeks economic growth without strategic vulnerability, and technological advancement without excessive dependence. In order to achieve these, India requires trusted partners across multiple sectors rather than reliance on a handful of countries.

Mongolia and South Korea are perfect for India's new geopolitical endeavour. Though vastly different in size, geography and economic profile, both countries occupy critical positions in India's long-term strategic calculations. One offers resources essential for the industries of tomorrow. The other offers technological capabilities necessary to transform those resources into economic power. Together, they represent two ends of the same strategic chain.

Mongolia's Quiet Geopolitical Importance

India often refers to Mongolia as its "Spiritual Neighbour," a phrase rooted in centuries of Buddhist civilizational links. Yet viewing the relationship solely through a cultural lens would overlook the strategic transformation underway.

Mongolia sits atop vast reserves of copper, coal, uranium and rare earth elements, resources that power the modern economy. They are the essential inputs for electric vehicles, clean-energy infrastructure, advanced defence systems and semiconductor manufacturing.

The stakes are only rising. The International Energy Agency estimates that demand for critical minerals needed for clean-energy technologies could grow three to six times by 2040. As nations race to secure supply chains for the industries of the future, access to such resources is becoming a strategic imperative.

That reality has elevated Mongolia's geopolitical significance. A landlocked nation once seen as peripheral to global power politics now occupies a fairly important place in the emerging resource economy, making it a valuable partner for countries seeking to future-proof their industrial and technological ambitions.

India-Mongolia relationship acquired fresh strategic depth in 2015 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country, elevating ties to a Strategic Partnership. Since then, cooperation has steadily expanded beyond culture and diplomacy into resource security, connectivity, digital governance and economic engagement. 

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ulaanbaatar faced a unique geopolitical dilemma, as it was sandwiched between Russia and China. It sought ways to avoid excessive dependence on either neighbour. The answer became the country's famous "Third Neighbour Policy," an effort to cultivate deeper ties with democratic partners such as India, Japan, the United States and South Korea. India's growing engagement with Mongolia fits naturally within this framework.

For New Delhi, stronger ties with Ulaanbaatar create opportunities not only for resource access but also for expanding diplomatic presence across Inner Asia. For Mongolia, India represents a trusted partner that brings strategic balance without geopolitical baggage. That convergence of interests gives the relationship unusual durability.

Why the Road to Seoul Matters

If Mongolia represents resource security, South Korea represents industrial transformation. The semiconductor is to the digital age what steel was to the industrial age: a foundational source of national power.

Today, every modern economy runs on chips. Smartphones, military systems, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence platforms, data centres and telecommunications networks all depend on semiconductors. Hence, it is widely understood that the countries that dominate semiconductor production overwhelmingly shape the architecture of global economic power.

South Korea occupies a commanding position in that ecosystem.

For India, which is investing heavily in building a domestic semiconductor ecosystem, South Korea offers immense strategic value. Seoul brings world-class expertise in chip fabrication, advanced electronics, precision manufacturing and technological innovation. India brings scale, talent, market depth and an attractive manufacturing base.

Bilateral trade has already crossed USD 27 billion annually, with both governments targeting USD 50 billion by 2030. Yet the real significance of the partnership lies beyond trade figures. What distinguishes India-South Korea ties is the nature of their cooperation and the sectors driving it.

The focus is mostly on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, clean-energy technologies, digital innovation, advanced manufacturing and resilient supply chains. These are not merely high-growth industries. They are the sectors that will determine economic competitiveness and strategic influence in the decades ahead.

Jaishankar's visit is expected to build upon the Joint Strategic Vision announced earlier this year and deepen collaboration across these critical domains. India is seeking a partner in its broader industrial and technological transformation, not just an investor.

The Supply Chain Revolution

One of the least visible yet most consequential shifts in global politics concerns supply chains. For years, efficiency dominated economic thinking. Companies concentrated production wherever costs were lowest, and governments largely celebrated interconnectedness. However, there is now a growing trend where nations are banking hard on resilience.

Countries are seeking answers to difficult questions like: Where do critical minerals come from? Who controls refining capacity? Where are semiconductor components manufactured? What happens if a geopolitical crisis interrupts supplies? Each question has profound implications.

India's simultaneous engagement with Mongolia and South Korea illustrates a sophisticated response to these concerns. One partner strengthens access to critical inputs. The other strengthens access to advanced industrial capabilities. Together, they help diversify strategic dependencies while enhancing economic security.

The boundaries between diplomacy, economics and industrial policy are gradually fading. Governments are no longer treating them as separate domains because global competition no longer allows such distinctions.

Lessons from a Howitzer

Sometimes geopolitical partnerships become easier to understand through tangible examples. The K9 Vajra-T artillery programme stands out as one of the most successful illustrations of India-South Korea defence cooperation. Developed from South Korea's K9 Thunder platform and manufactured in India by Larsen & Toubro with technology support from Hanwha Aerospace, the project moved beyond the traditional buyer-seller model that has long defined defence relationships.

The Indian Army inducted 100 K9 Vajra-T self-propelled artillery guns through this partnership. The significance lies not simply in acquiring military hardware. This stood out because the programme demonstrated how foreign collaboration can strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities, create industrial ecosystems and support technological learning within India.

Whether in defence production, semiconductor manufacturing or clean-energy technologies, India's objective is not merely to import products. It is to build capacity. South Korea's industrial strengths align remarkably well with that ambition.

A Foreign Policy for the Age of Economic Statecraft

The most telling aspect of Jaishankar's visit is what it says about the evolution of Indian diplomacy. Foreign policy and economic policy, once operating on parallel tracks, are now intricately intertwined. Resource access shapes industrial strategy, technology partnerships strengthen strategic autonomy, and supply-chain resilience has become a national security imperative.

Mongolia's mineral-rich steppes and South Korea's advanced manufacturing hubs may appear worlds apart, yet they serve the same strategic objective because the resources beneath Mongolia's soil could one day power industrial ecosystems built with technological partnerships from countries like South Korea.

As Jaishankar travels from Ulaanbaatar to Seoul, his itinerary is about far more than diplomatic engagements. It seeks to connect supply chains, deepen technological cooperation and strengthen partnerships that will shape the next phase of global power. The real significance of the visit lies in the subtle mechanics of modern statecraft: minerals, manufacturing and microchips. In the emerging Asian century, these foundations may well determine which nations shape the future and which are left adapting to it.