Currently, China only accounts for about 15% of the global AI compute power, far less than the ~75% held by the United States, according to a study by Epoch AI. On the other hand, the aforementioned farmland will be converted into a "data island" housing massive data centers for four companies: Huawei, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom. Now, the plan is to link these data centers using the aforementioned UB-Mesh tech to serve as redundancy, and to sell surplus compute. Coupled with these ambitions to massively scale AI compute near both urban centers and rural areas, China is emerging as a competitor that won’t back down. Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.