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WEF commentary piece providing a high-level overview of AI geopolitics in 2025; useful background on how geopolitical fragmentation affects AI governance and safety coordination efforts, though it lacks technical depth.
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Importance: 38/100news articleanalysis
Summary
A World Economic Forum analysis examining how AI has become a centrepiece of geopolitical power struggles, with nations competing over data infrastructure, semiconductor supply chains, and digital sovereignty. The piece highlights how the US-China strategic rivalry over AI is reshaping global alliances and fragmenting the internet into national silos, while arguing that common AI safety and transparency baselines remain urgently needed despite intensifying competition.
Key Points
- •Technology distrust between major powers is driving nations to avoid reliance on foreign tech for critical systems, fragmenting global data infrastructure.
- •Data has become a strategic asset; governments are implementing digital sovereignty laws restricting cross-border data flows.
- •Data centres now handle over 95% of global internet traffic and have shifted from back-end infrastructure to geopolitical battlegrounds.
- •Rising trade barriers and semiconductor export controls are key tools in US-China AI competition.
- •Balancing collaboration and competition will determine both who leads in AI and how safely and equitably it is deployed globally.
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AI geopolitics and data in the era of technological rivalry | World Economic Forum
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Technological Innovation
AI geopolitics and data centres in the age of technological rivalry
Jul 24, 2025
Technology such as AI has become a centrepiece of geopolitical power struggles. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Mark Esposito
Faculty Associate, Harvard Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Technology has become a centrepiece of geopolitical power struggles, with nations increasingly wary of relying on foreign tech for critical systems.
Strategic competition over AI is marked by rising trade barriers, competing AI ambitions and a scramble to secure control over data and its infrastructure.
Balancing between collaboration and competition will shape not only who leads in AI, but also how safely and equitably it is integrated into our world.
From social media bans to semiconductor export controls, technology has become a centrepiece of geopolitical power struggles. Even amid intensifying competition, the imperative to establish common AI baselines, particularly for safety, transparency and infrastructure resilience, is growing more urgent.
In the wake of technology distrust between major powers, nations are increasingly wary of relying on foreign tech for critical systems. The United States and China, in particular, have entered a new phase of strategic competition over artificial intelligence (AI) and the infrastructure that powers it.
This competition is marked by rising trade barriers, competing AI ambitions and a scramble to secure control over data and the digital tools of the future. International relations in 2025 are defined as much by geotechnology disputes as by traditional geopolitics, with global forums and alliances being reshaped by debates over digital dominance.
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A striking feature of this landscape is the politicization of data itself. As AI systems grow more powerful, the data they rely on has turned into a strategic asset. Cross-border data flows that once seemed routine now face stricter oversight or outright restrictions under the banner of “digital sovereignty”.
Governments from the European Union to China are implementing laws to kee
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