A new divide: Nations with AI data centres & those without
AI has created a new
digital divide
, fracturing the world between nations with the computing power for building cutting-edge AI systems and those without. The split is influencing geopolitics and global economics, creating new dependencies and prompting a desperate rush to not be excluded from a technology race.
The biggest beneficiaries by far are the US, China and the EU, hosting over half of the world's most powerful data centres, which are used for developing the most complex AI systems, according to data compiled by Oxford University researchers. Only 32 countries, or about 16% of nations, have these large facilities filled with microchips and computers. US and Chinese companies operate over 90% of the data centres that other companies and institutions use for AI work.
Africa and South America have almost no AI computing hubs, while India has five and Japan four. More than 150 countries have nothing. nyt
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