Power has always come from control of the world’s essential resources. Once it was steel, then oil, then data. Today is computing, and who controls it will shape the coming century. Computing is fast becoming the basis of global economic growth. In the United States, investment in AI infrastructure, from data centers to semiconductors and energy systems, is already underway: JP Morgan estimates that spending on data centers alone could increase US GDP by as much as 20 basis points over the next two years. According to The Economist (October 2025), AI-related investments are now responsible for 40% of US GDP growth last year, equal to the amount contributed by consumer spending growth. This statistic would be staggering no matter how long AI has been part of the economy, but this is just the beginning.
That concentration of growth marks a new source of strategic influence. Like oil a century ago, computing is the indispensable fuel of the coming century. It will shape national prosperity and, inevitably, global power. The United States currently has an advantage, one that could determine whether democracies lead this revolution — or surrender to state power.
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The American Edge
At the heart of that capability is the American AI stack. This is not the product of one company, but an ecosystem. Semiconductors and servers made and assembled in the USA Open source models and cloud services rooted in free and fair competition. It offers a safe, democratic alternative based on openness.
The United States must act immediately, as state-backed rivals work to build their own complete AI stacks and have a history of offering funding that poorer governments find difficult to refuse.
The implementation gap
Most countries aren’t trying to spend billions on training new models. They need the ability to drive them. Training creates AI; implementation makes it useful. Without deployment capacity, AI remains a research project. This makes AI the operating system of the economy.
Think about the question. India needs AI infrastructure to manage urban growth and deliver services to billions. Europe is pursuing computer technology to accelerate breakthroughs in clean energy and climate research. Across Africa, governments are turning to digital tools to expand financial access and modernize healthcare. If the United States doesn’t provide computing power, others will.
Washington is beginning to recognize this reality. The current administration’s AI Action Plan calls for faster data center construction, domestic semiconductor manufacturing, and deeper cooperation with allies. But ambition must go hand in hand with execution. Without reliable infrastructure that can be exported and scaled, American leadership risks becoming an asterisk in the history books.
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The gap is big. Today, fewer than forty countries have AI-specialized data centers. More than 150 have none. In this void, rivals move decisively. If the United States does not respond, it will cede its influence for decades.
Exporting prosperity
America is already computer rich. Exporting the US AI stack will strengthen alliances and align incentives abroad. It would fuel a new wave of growth. Every server shipped abroad stimulates demand for American manufacturing, energy and services. Each deployment extends U.S. leadership globally.
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The benefits would also be felt at home. Selling computers, the fuel of the generative age, creates revenue that flows back into the American economy. If exporting the resource that will power the next century doesn’t help pay off the national debt, nothing will.
America’s AI stack is ultimately about who will define the terms of the coming century. If we take the lead, AI will progress according to the rules of openness and honesty. If we stand aside, others will decide for us. The world waits. The countries that control the computer will control the AI. The only question is which countries.
