Unlock Editor's Digest totally free
FT editor Roula Khalaf selects her favourite stories on this weekly newsletter.
If artificial intelligence systems transform the worldwide economy, then the info centers that train them might be the factories of the long run. Governments all over the world view AI-enabled data centers as a strategic resource—one they’re vying to regulate.
The idea of using high-performance computers as a strategic tool is nothing recent. During the Cold War, the United States only allowed the sale of supercomputers to the Soviet Union in the event that they were used for weather forecasting and never for nuclear simulations. These rules were enforced by Requirements that the Soviets accept everlasting foreign observers and even hand over data from supercomputers for evaluation by US intelligence.
Like supercomputers, the AI systems being developed today have each civilian and military applications. They can optimize food delivery apps, but additionally analyze satellite images and control drone attacks. It will not be unreasonable to assume that control of AI data centers could have each political and economic implications.
All advanced AI systems are developed in data centers filled with high-end chips like Nvidia graphics processors and high-speed memory semiconductors. Cutting-edge AI chips are already subject to U.S. export controls, and advanced memory chips may soon be added to that list. Adversaries like China have received blanket bans denying them access to restricted U.S. chips and at the moment are developing their very own.
It should subsequently come as no surprise that an increasing number of countries want guaranteed access to AI technology through data centers built on their very own soil.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have made no secret of their ambition to turn out to be AI hubs by investing in huge data center infrastructures. Kazakhstan wants to construct an AI data center and Train Models in Kazakh language. Malaysia is experiencing a knowledge center boom, driven by huge recent investments by each American and Chinese corporations.
US cloud corporations see this as a lucrative opportunity. They argue that in the event that they don't take contracts from foreign governments pouring billions of dollars into “sovereign AI” infrastructure, China will. Washington is aware that US technology corporations need international markets to keep up the size that underpins their economic advantage.
American diplomats are also keeping track of data centers. There isn’t any higher approach to lock out Chinese technology than to bring other countries into the cloud. When US President Joe Biden received Kenyan President William Ruto in May, the White House was proud announced that Microsoft built a big recent data center in Kenya to supply cloud computing services.
What the White House didn’t mention was that Microsoft would develop the Kenyan data center with G42, a technology company based within the United Arab Emirates that has long had technology partnerships with Chinese corporations. Earlier this yrMicrosoft announced that it could invest $1.5 billion in G42.
Security experts in Washington fear that such deals could jeopardize their control over AI technology. They point to long-standing ties between G42 and Chinese technology corporations corresponding to Huawei. Kevin Xu of Interconnected Capital suspects that the chip war could soon be followed by a cloud war.
Whatever safeguards Washington demands for the Microsoft-G42 deal will function a template for future international data center projects. Will the U.S. government confirm compliance? Could it demand data sharing, because it did in the course of the Cold War? Such safeguards would address American security concerns but make countries already wary of U.S. restrictions much more nervous.
This is very important because U.S. competition with China within the technology sector relies partially on the query of trust. U.S. officials have asked: Who would you fairly trust along with your telecommunications services: European corporations or Huawei?
It isn’t any coincidence that Huawei is doubling down on its efforts to construct its own cloud computing business for purchasers in China and abroad. The head of Huawei Cloud recently argues China should shift “demand for AI computing power from chips” to the cloud, where the country has enormous capability and has no difficulty constructing the ability infrastructure that AI data centers need.
Whether corporations like Huawei can remain competitive without essentially the most cutting-edge chips stays to be seen. The undeniable fact that China is importing large quantities of Nvidia's H20 chips – which were deliberately downgraded to comply with US restrictions – suggests the country won't be exporting its own AI technology anytime soon.
Chips, clouds and data centers are inextricably linked, so long as high-end chips with export controls enable cloud computing corporations to deploy AI efficiently. The technology competition that began with silicon is now entering a brand new layer of the computing stack.
