China’s secret weapon in the global race to lead AI innovation is its enormous electricity resources. The increased energy demand and grid capacity required to run AI’s ever-expanding computational load are putting enormous strain on power grids in Western countries. For the second-largest economy in the world, that’s going to require staggering amounts of energy and grid capacity. But Beijing can also harness the power of AI to optimize the power grid. China is planning to comprehensively integrate AI into its power grid by next year.