Elon Musk has expressed a compelling prediction that China, bolstered by its immense energy capacity, is likely to become the world’s unrivaled leader in artificial intelligence computing. According to Musk, the country’s exceptional abundance of energy resources provides a foundational advantage that will enable it to outperform other nations in the rapidly escalating race for AI dominance.
This statement underscores a broader reality: computational power—the hardware and infrastructure that process and train increasingly complex machine learning models—has become the essential engine driving AI progress. Just as oil once defined geopolitical strength during the industrial age, energy availability and digital infrastructure now determine technological supremacy in the era of artificial intelligence. Countries capable of sustaining vast data centers, cooling systems, and consistent high-power electricity flows are inherently better positioned to fuel accelerated innovation.
China’s extensive investments in renewable and traditional power sources, coupled with rapid development of its technology sector, provide the synergy necessary for this exponential growth. By harnessing these resources, China could soon surpass rivals in the volume and efficiency of AI compute, propelling not only advances in autonomous technologies, robotics, and large-scale model training, but also the creation of an entirely new global technological order.
Musk’s forecast acts as both observation and warning: the competition for computational capability has evolved into a strategic contest that will shape the next decade. Those nations that secure reliable energy and infrastructure to support AI development may guide the direction of innovation itself. In this light, the relationship between sustainable energy and digital intelligence becomes more evident than ever—suggesting that the leaders of tomorrow’s AI industry will be those capable of mastering both power and computation.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-china-ai-compute-exceed-electricity-power-2026-1
