First Strike

The U.S. “AI race” mentality is pushing Washington toward zero-sum thinking, with the nationalization of NVIDIA cited as a key escalation that raised the author’s odds of imminent WWIII. The article argues China is on track to have 10x U.S. electricity capacity within a decade, and since compute depends on electricity, that gap should dominate long-term strategy. Instead of blocking chip sales, the U.S. should sell as many AI chips to China as possible and use the proceeds to buy solar panel and battery factories and rapidly expand power capacity. Such a strategy, the author contends, would deliver massive prosperity for both countries and keep America competitive over 50 years, aided by robotic labor, immigrant talent like Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, a business-friendly culture, and vast land. The worry is that U.S. policymakers see a decapitating first strike with artificial superintelligence as the only way out of the race, a bet the author doubts can outthink steel and drone production. What to watch next: whether Washington keeps restricting chip exports or pivots toward an electricity-and-factory buildout.