The great computing chasm

As countries race to build AI, a yawning gap has opened around the world. — Sarah Pabst/The New York Times

IN May, Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, donned a helmet to visit the Texas construction site of a new data centre project.

Bigger than New York’s Central Park and costing an estimated US$60bil, the facility is set to become one of the world’s most powerful computing hubs when it opens as early as next year.