Scarcity, Sovereignty, Strategy: Mapping the Political Geography of AI Compute
From Interpreting India by Carnegie India
November 21, 2025 · 45 min · Season 4 · Episode 33
About this episode
The episode discusses AI sovereignty and the geopolitical implications of access to AI compute infrastructure.
In this episode of Interpreting India, Adarsh Ranjan is joined by Zoe Jay Hawkins, co-founder and deputy executive director of the Tech Policy Design Institute. They explore the evolving idea of AI sovereignty, the geopolitics of compute, and how countries are navigating access to the foundational infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence. Drawing from her research at the Oxford Internet Institute, Zoe unpacks the political geography of AI compute, the rising concentration of AI chips and data centers, and what this means for both developed and developing economies. What does “AI sovereignty” really mean, and how can countries conceptualize it across different levels? Why is access to compute becoming a critical geopolitical issue, and how concentrated is the global compute landscape today? How should countries, especially in the Global South, approach compute scarcity, supply chain risks, and long-term AI strategy?
People in this episode
Guest: Zoe Jay Hawkins
Topics covered
- AI sovereignty
- geopolitics of compute
- political geography of AI
- compute scarcity
- supply chain risks
- AI strategy
Keywords
- AI
- compute
- geopolitics
- infrastructure
- Global South
Mentioned in this episode
Products: AI chips, data centers
Books & works: Interpreting India
Places: the Global South
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