To this end, the Microsoft exec referred to the company’s announced plan to invest more than $35 billion in 14 countries within three years “to build trusted and secure AI and cloud datacenter infrastructure.” According to Smith, Microsoft’s global infrastructure now reaches 40 countries, including the global south, “including in the Global South, where China has frequently focused so many of its Belt and Road investments.”

To build on this, Smith is calling for more political support, writing, “the most important U.S. public policy priority should be to ensure that the U.S. private sector can continue to advance with the wind at its back.” The United States can’t afford to “slow its own private sector with heavy-handed regulations,” Smith adds, calling for a “pragmatic export control policy.” After all, the aim is to “expand rapidly and provide a reliable source of supply to the many countries that are American allies and friends.” 

Europe between IT dependence and the desire for sovereignty

Whether these allies and friends will join in the AI ​​game outlined by Smith is questionable, however, despite Microsoft publicly announcing billions in investments in European infrastructure last year, including €3.2 billion in Germany. With the AI ​​Act, the EU has passed a set of rules that prescribes clear guidelines for the use of AI in Europe. AI lobbyists are currently haggling over the final wording to pull the teeth out of the regulation in the interests of their own business.