New Delhi, April 27 -- For years, the global AI race focused on frontier models, faster chips and massive capital. The US still leads this phase, with its hyperscalers ready to roll out massive expansions of data centre capacity as soon as labour, chip and power availability catch up.

China, however, is shifting its strategy. Its newly approved 15th Five-Year Plan (for 2026-2030) introduces a sweeping 'AI+ action plan' to embed artificial intelligence across manufacturing, supply chains, public systems and the entire economy.

The 2026 Stanford HAI AI Index confirms this shift: AI leadership is no longer decided only by who builds the best models. The new battleground is infrastructure plus diffusion-i.e., turning AI into an economy-wide...