Bangladesh, June 29 -- The global competition for artificial intelligence leadership has become one of the defining strategic contests of the 21st century. For years, policymakers in Washington have focused heavily on one critical question: how can the United States prevent China from catching up in advanced AI? Much of the debate has centered on restricting China's access to cutting-edge semiconductor chips, which are essential for training powerful AI models. While semiconductor export controls remain an important national security tool, they represent only one piece of a much larger technological puzzle.

Artificial intelligence is not built on chips alone. It depends on an interconnected ecosystem that includes cloud infrastructure, ...