- Microsoft announced an investment of €3.2 billion ($3.5 billion) in Germany over the next two years to double the capacity of its AI and data center infrastructure and expand its training programs.
- This follows a similar announcement from November 2023, where Microsoft said it would invest £2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) in infrastructure in the UK over the next three years.
- Both countries see these investments as significant steps that would allow them to compete globally in AI.
- However, these investments are dwarfed by investments made by U.S.-based cloud service providers elsewhere, particularly in the U.S.
- As AI becomes increasingly economically and militarily important, governments are taking steps to ensure they have control over the technology they depend on.
- Some experts warn that smaller economies may be better off sharing AI power with those that are already leading, rather than trying to compete.
- Many countries have increased public funding for AI research and commercialization, and the urge to protect domestic companies has shaped regulation.
- Many of the most significant AI nationalism-associated actions taken by governments have aimed to secure their access to compute, or deprive rivals’ access.
- For example, in 2022, the U.S. imposed export restrictions to prevent countries such as China from accessing the most advanced semiconductor chips and the equipment required to make them.
- It updated the restrictions in 2023, and in January 2024 the Department of Commerce proposed a rule that would require cloud compute providers to monitor who was using their services and block access to anyone found to be using them for cyberattacks.
Read more at: https://time.com/6695958/ai-infrastructure-germany-uk/