"We Should Have Been Wary When It Was Free"... Warning Bells Over US-China AI Weaponization [Weekend Money]

ECB President Warns of AI Monopoly and Weaponization
Nations Go All-In to Secure Sovereign AI
Data Center Investments on the Rise

An analysis has found that if the monopoly on artificial intelligence (AI) technology centered on the United States and China deepens, the entire industries of non-AI powerhouses such as those in Europe could come under severe pressure. Consequently, there are expectations that the construction of sovereign AI infrastructure and the expansion of data center investments outside the United States will accelerate as a response to the risk of AI weaponization.

Recently, Ho-yoon Jung, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, commented, "The 'AI agentic workflow,' which autonomously judges and acts across various sectors of society, will obtain control over economic systems." He also analyzed that "we are approaching a turning point where control of society gradually shifts from humans to AI."

Concerns of AI Weaponization... The Challenge of Securing 'Sovereign AI'

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News

Previously, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), warned in a speech last month about the potential risks that the US- and China-driven AI technology development could pose to Europe. She pointed out that in a situation where AI is being deeply incorporated into core sectors of society such as border customs inspections, tax audits, and hospital patient monitoring, any disruption in access to essential AI technologies or changes in usage conditions could cause the shock to ripple across all industrial sectors.

In the past, reliance on big tech (large information technology companies) software was mostly limited to issues such as data leakage or incurring usage costs. In contrast, with AI, massive capital investment is essential, and the technology has the potential to be 'weaponized,' making the risks significantly different in scale and scope.

Researcher Jung emphasized, "If non-European (i.e., US and Chinese) companies gain dominance over frontier AI models and infrastructure, they could leverage strong bargaining power and exert pressure on Europe, not just in specific industries but across all sectors."

This is why nations are striving to secure their own data centers and independent AI systems, known as 'sovereign AI.' Europe currently lacks enough data center infrastructure to meet its own demand, and if this situation continues, the gap with the United States could widen by more than six times within the next ten years.

"Attention from Domestic and Overseas Data Center Operators Needed"

To overcome this, it is urgent to construct next-generation high-speed infrastructure that goes beyond simply building giga-factories, and it is estimated that capital investment of approximately 600 billion euros (about 928 trillion KRW) over the next ten years will be necessary.

Jung explained, "It will also be essential to develop proprietary large language models (LLMs) of sufficient quality in order to be free from the threat of technological blockades by external AI operators," adding, "This indicates the growing need to reinforce sovereign AI infrastructure overall, rather than devolving into a mere consumer of basic AI services in the AI era."

Accordingly, data center investments are now rapidly expanding outside of the US. This is because demand for 'tokens,' the basic units consumed by AI during data processing, is increasing faster than expected, in line with the adoption of autonomous AI at the national level. As governments and companies step up their AI utilization, securing large-scale data centers has become a critical task.

Korea is also experiencing the same sense of urgency, and domestic data center operators are expected to see a significant increase in business opportunities. Jung added, "Similar trends will become more evident in Korea over time, and the range of opportunities for data center operators responding to this will also diversify," emphasizing the need for sustained long-term attention to data center companies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.