The US dominates AI supercomputing
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There is a fantastic deep dive article in the FT on who is winning the AI race (just check the source link for the first chart). Despite the impression that China is catching up, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The arrival of DeepSeek in the end was nothing more than a mild irritant for the US tech sector. The gap between the US and China, and everywhere else in the world is widen where AI computing power is concerned.
CHART 1 • US dominates AI supercomputer race
America owns the AI future literally. The US now controls 75% of global AI supercomputer performance, while China has collapsed to just 15%. In 2019, the split was roughly 60-40. Today, China's share has been halved while America's dominance approaches monopoly status.
The reversal stems from two forces: export controls that actually bite and Silicon Valley's unprecedented infrastructure spending. Biden's chip restrictions have forced China to build AI with one hand tied behind its back. Meanwhile, American tech giants are pouring hundreds of billions into compute capacity. The compound effect is devastating for Beijing's AI ambitions.
Consider the implications. AI models need massive compute to train. Without access to cutting-edge chips, China must build clusters three times larger to match US capabilities, driving up costs and complexity exponentially. This isn't just about who wins the AI race, it's about who gets to set the rules for the most transformative technology of our lifetime. Betting against American tech dominance has been a widow-maker trade. The compute gap suggests it'll stay that way.
Source: Financial Times
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