Jared Cohen
Anjali Sundaram | CNBC
Data centers are a critical part of artificial intelligence infrastructure. Goldman Sachs’ president of international affairs said where they appear around the world could have lasting geopolitical implications for the United States.
Jared Cohen, former CEO of Google’s Jigsaw and current co-director of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, compares the momentum of AI to the next industrial revolution in a new editorial this week in Foreign Policy magazine. are. There is an opportunity for “data center diplomacy” in this technology wave, he writes.
“This is the technological equivalent of the birth of the Internet, except it happened more suddenly,” Cohen said in an interview with CNBC. “Data could be the new oil. Ultimately, states, not nature, will decide the future of the AI infrastructure that is built.”
AI relies on large amounts of data and huge data centers for training. Big tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are spending heavily on infrastructure, with plans to spend about $600 billion on the effort over the next three years, according to Goldman.
An important geopolitical factor is China. Despite the economic slowdown, the Chinese government is investing in AI data centers and has launched a $6.1 billion national initiative called “Eastern Data, Western Computing.” The United States has its own set of initiatives, including a task force on AI infrastructure.
Countries with money to spend face an “either-or” choice when it comes to investing in AI: the United States or China. Cohen said that while the U.S. is still ahead in AI, data center buildup is a “bottleneck” and that “the U.S. will have to have some overflow option to meet demand.” .
The United States already has partnerships with Canada, Australia, France, and others. But the other option is what Cohen calls “geopolitical swing states,” meaning states with “a disproportionate amount of capital and a willingness to deploy it around the world” and a tendency to lean toward China. These are higher countries. He recognizes the Middle East as an important partner.
The influx of capital into the oil-rich countries of the Gulf and the need for economic diversification makes these countries well-suited for capital-intensive AI businesses. About $11.3 trillion is managed by sovereign wealth funds, and five of the 10 most active countries are based in the Gulf states of the Middle East. They’re major backers of Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence darlings, from OpenAI to Anthropic.
Cohen said countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia may be in the strongest position to build data center capacity and “do this quickly.”
“The Arab Gulf states of the Middle East offer many promising opportunities for AI data centers,” Cohen wrote. “These countries, with young and ambitious leaders, aim to export not only oil but also AI. As one prominent UAE official recently emphasized, “We are the first We may have missed the next industrial revolution, but we have not missed the AI revolution.”
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