US Leads AI Race Through Commercialization and Infrastructure

Following the market disruption caused by DeepSeek R1 in January 2025, American AI firms have intensified their efforts in commercialization. OpenAI has made strides with agents and Codex, while Anthropic has transformed Claude Code into a viable business. The United States stands out in terms of revenue, adoption, tools, and global influence, bolstered by the promotional efforts of Trump and Larry Ellison. For China, DeepSeek's strategic importance lies in lessening reliance on Nvidia and fostering local technologies such as Huawei Ascend. SAP's Christian Klein remarked that Europe does not require additional data centers, as large language models are inadequate. Europe invested $58.8 billion in Indian software services in FY 2023-2024, rising to $67.1 billion the following year. The US thrives by developing key layers concurrently, with cloud infrastructure being crucial. Europe, lacking cloud leaders, would need a decade to cultivate them, with Arkady Volozh's Nebius being a notable exception. The upcoming challenge is in weaponized AI, as seen with Anthropic's Mythos, which is steering towards closed proprietary systems for enhanced security.