{"slug": "us-adversary-turns-up-the-heat-on-americas-ai-lead-with-an-underestimated-edge", "title": "US adversary turns up the heat on America’s AI lead with an underestimated edge", "summary": "China is rapidly building data centers and energy infrastructure for AI, with Stanford's 2026 AI Index counting 5,427 U.S. data centers in 2025 versus 449 in China, but China's speed and scale of construction, including the 'East Data, West Computing' initiative, could narrow America's lead. U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, warn that domestic opposition to data centers and power plant construction could cede the AI race to China, while China's embassy spokesperson Liu Chang rejects the geopolitical framing and advocates cooperation.", "body_md": "[China](https://www.foxnews.com/category/world/world-regions/china) is racing to build the data centers and energy infrastructure needed to power artificial intelligence, raising concerns that Beijing’s ability to rapidly construct massive projects could help it get closer to America’s commanding lead in the physical infrastructure underpinning the AI race.\n\nThe U.S. remains far ahead in sheer numbers. The [Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence’s 2026 AI Index](https://hai.stanford.edu/assets/files/ai_index_report_2026.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com), using Cloudscene data, counted 5,427 U.S. data centers in 2025 compared with 449 in China. Stanford cautioned that the count does not account for differences in facility size, computing capacity or utilization.\n\nBut China is moving quickly.\n\n**AMERICA IS FIGHTING YESTERDAY’S AI WAR. TOMORROW’S WAR IS ON THE WAY**\n\n\"We know that China is far behind, but we also know that they are moving at great speed,\" China expert Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital.\n\nChang argued that Beijing understands the U.S. advantage will be difficult to erase if America continues building at the same pace and said growing opposition to data-center development could slow that expansion.\n\nPresident Donald Trump made a similar argument this week, warning [communities fighting new projects](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/backwards-poor-trump-issues-dire-warning-communities-blocking-critical-technology) that China stands to benefit.\n\n\"China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement,\" Trump wrote on Truth Social. \"Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!\" Trump also argued that communities embracing data centers would gain jobs and tax revenues.\n\nVice President JD Vance sharpened that warning Thursday, telling Fox Business there was \"a very good chance\" the U.S. could lose the AI race to China if Democrats regain control of Congress.\n\nVance said the broader problem is America’s ability to build enough power to support data centers and other major infrastructure. \"We cannot be a country that says we’re not going to build more power,\" Vance said, arguing that the administration is trying to make it easier to construct power plants alongside data centers while protecting residential ratepayers from higher electricity costs.\n\nHe also pointed to the widening US-China electricity gap, saying China now generates roughly three times as much power as the United States. \"We’ve got to build more power plants. We’ve got to make the regulatory state easier to work with.\"\n\nAsked about China’s rapid infrastructure expansion, the Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the premise that AI should primarily be viewed as a geopolitical contest.\n\n\"AI should not be owned by major countries, still less dominated by contests and rivalry,\" Embassy spokesperson Liu Chang told Fox News Digital.\n\nLiu pointed to China’s 2025 Global AI Governance Action Plan, which calls for accelerating construction of clean power, next-generation networks, computing capacity and data centers. He said China advocates cooperation with the U.S. and wants AI development to benefit both countries and the broader international community.\n\nBehind that diplomatic message, Beijing is undertaking a massive geographic reorganization of its computing infrastructure.\n\nUnder China’s \"East Data, West Computing\" initiative, Beijing is directing more computing capacity toward western regions where land is available and wind and solar resources can help reduce energy costs.\n\nFive of China’s eight national computing hubs are located in western China, according to a[ June 25 report from the government-backed Digital China initiative](https://www.digitalchina.gov.cn/2026/english/dn/202606/t20260625_5338235.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com). More than 30 data centers were under construction within a three-kilometer area in Horinger, Inner Mongolia, while intensive construction was also underway in Zhongwei, Ningxia.\n\nThat buildout caught the attention of members of the bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission during a recent fact-finding trip to China.\n\n\"I left with an intense belief that the Chinese see this as the frontier in terms of competition,\" Commission Vice Chairman Mike Kuiken told Fox News Digital, describing AI as increasingly intertwined with robotics, biotechnology, advanced materials and manufacturing.\n\nKuiken said China has one significant advantage when it comes to constructing the infrastructure needed to support that technology.\n\n\"The Chinese, because they write the rules as they go, and the rule of law largely does not exist, are able to just move faster in terms of building things,\" he said.\n\nBut Kuiken also identified a major Chinese weakness: access to the most [advanced chips](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/americas-chip-advantage-essential-protecting-american-dream).\n\n\"The constraints that are real though, the Chinese do not have the ability to procure advanced chips,\" he said, while describing Beijing’s ability to rapidly construct coal plants and other infrastructure as \"quite incredible.\"\n\n**THE WAR ON DATA CENTERS JEOPARDIZES OUR ECONOMY AND NATIONAL SECURITY**\n\nThe U.S. retains major advantages beyond its data-center lead. The[ Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence’s 2026 AI Index](https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2026-ai-index-report/research-and-development?utm_source=chatgpt.com) found that America produced 59 notable AI models in 2025 compared with 35 from China, and U.S. private AI investment reached $285.9 billion, compared with $12.4 billion in China. Stanford cautioned that private investment figures understate Beijing’s overall spending because of Chinese government-backed funds.\n\nAt the same time, [Chinese models](https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/china-building-ai-war-machine-washington-must-wake-late) have rapidly narrowed the performance gap.[ Stanford’s 2026 AI Index](https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2026-ai-index-report/technical-performance?utm_source=chatgpt.com) found that as of March 2026, the top U.S. model led the top Chinese model by just 2.7%.\n\nChang also alleged that Beijing is seeking to exploit American opposition to data centers and claimed China-linked networks have helped support [protests against projects](https://www.foxnews.com/us/report-chinese-propaganda-singham-network-foreign-dark-money-linked-campaigns-data-centers) in the US. \"These protests are not entirely organic,\" Chang told Fox News Digital.\n\nKuiken was cautious about portraying those local disputes as part of a broader anti-China fight, saying genuine U.S. opposition to data-center projects has also emerged over concerns including [electricity costs](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/monthly-bill-americans-cant-avoid-quietly-surging-emerging-industry-data), water use, noise and land development.\n\n\"We are building things in the U.S. faster than we have in a long time,\" he said, adding that policymakers are working through infrastructure constraints. \"Usually there are local issues that are driving those things.\"\n\nThe emerging competition, therefore, is not simply over who develops the smartest AI model.\n\n**CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP**\n\nIt is increasingly a race over who can build the electricity, data centers, chips and networks needed to run those models at enormous scale — and how quickly they can build them.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-adversary-turns-up-the-heat-on-americas-ai-lead-with-an-underestimated-edge", "canonical_source": "https://www.foxnews.com/world/us-adversary-turns-up-heat-americas-ai-lead-underestimated-edge", "published_at": "2026-09-04 10:00:34+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-04 10:24:07.898743+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence", "Gordon Chang", "Donald Trump", "JD Vance", "Liu Chang", "Chinese Embassy in Washington", "Digital China initiative"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-adversary-turns-up-the-heat-on-americas-ai-lead-with-an-underestimated-edge", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-adversary-turns-up-the-heat-on-americas-ai-lead-with-an-underestimated-edge.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-adversary-turns-up-the-heat-on-americas-ai-lead-with-an-underestimated-edge.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/us-adversary-turns-up-the-heat-on-americas-ai-lead-with-an-underestimated-edge.jsonld"}}