Building an Allied Compute Strategy

Export controls on advanced semiconductors have become the dominant instrument of AI geopolitics. They are necessary but not sufficient. The underlying problem is structural: democratic nations do not yet have a coordinated framework for treating compute capacity as a shared security asset, the way they treat collective defense or financial stability.

The CHIPS Act addressed domestic production incentives. It did not address allied coordination on export policy, joint research infrastructure, or interoperability standards that would prevent strategic fragmentation within the democratic bloc itself. Those gaps remain open.

A credible allied compute strategy would include joint investment in semiconductor fabrication outside the US — in allied nations where supply chain resilience matters — alongside shared protocols for responsible export to third countries. It would treat the AI talent pipeline as a strategic resource, with coordinated visa and education policy.

The alternative is a patchwork of bilateral arrangements that China, Russia, and others can exploit through differential access. Democratic societies have more collective compute capacity than any authoritarian system. The question is whether they will act like it.