How four Asian economies are positioning themselves for the AI age

Opinion | As US and China compete over AI, middle powers can craft a third path

US concentrates advanced AI through Pax Silica (chips, cloud, proprietary models), creating vendor dependence on allies; China launches WAICO with open-weight models for the Global South. CTOs and middle powers face a geopolitical fork: dependence on US vendor updates vs. operational sovereignty with China, reshaping enterprise stack decisions.