Nikkei News is worried, and it has written an article warning the United States: If you don't work harder, you might lose the artificial intelligence race!

Recently, the Nikkei News has rarely used a tone of "anxiety" to issue a warning: If the United States continues to stand still in its power infrastructure, it may really lose to China in the global artificial intelligence (AI) competition.

In 2025, China is expected to add about 47 gigawatts of new power generation capacity, while the United States only has 6.4 gigawatts — the former is more than seven times the latter. This gap did not appear suddenly. Since 2013, China's total power generation capacity has already exceeded that of the United States; by 2024, this total has become 2.5 times that of the United States. More importantly, this gap is accelerating. According to the current trend, by 2030, China's power generation capacity will increase by about 50% compared to 2024.

Of China's new power, about 80% comes from renewable energy such as photovoltaic and wind power, while the proportion in the United States is about 60%. More importantly, China is simultaneously advancing the dual expansion of traditional energy and new energy — there are currently 27 nuclear reactors under construction, and it is expected that by 2030, its nuclear power generation capacity will also exceed that of the United States.

The Nikkei News believes that electricity is not only fuel for AI training, but also the cornerstone for future AI deployment. With the popularity of scenarios such as edge computing, autonomous driving, and smart factories, the demand for stable, low-cost electricity across society will only surge. Whoever can build a wide, low-cost, and green power network before 2030 will have the initiative in the large-scale implementation of AI.

The main battlefield of the AI competition is quietly shifting from chip laboratories to power plants and transmission towers. In the past, it was about who could make the strongest chips; now, it's about who can power the most chips.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1855976388393984/

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