Every chatbot answer, generated image and voice assistant reply depends on something physical: specialized processors running in vast data centers. As demand for artificial intelligence grows, those chips have become one of the most valuable and contested resources in the global economy. Some economists now compare them to oil.
The debate has reached Riverton. This month, the National Assembly begins discussing a government plan to spend 400 million euros on a public computing center in Northvale, aimed at giving universities and local companies access to AI hardware.
Why ordinary processors aren’t enough
Training a large AI model means performing trillions of simple calculations, over and over, for weeks. The processor in a laptop handles tasks one after another. AI chips are designed to run thousands of calculations in parallel, which makes them far faster for this kind of work.
Computing power has become the raw material of the digital economy. If you don’t have access to it, you can use AI, but you can’t build it.
Dr. Mateo Kranjc, computer scientist at Elmbridge University
A fragile supply chain
The most advanced chips are designed by a small number of companies and made in an even smaller number of factories, using machines that only a few suppliers in the world can build. A single new chip factory can cost tens of billions of euros and take years to complete.
That concentration makes the supply vulnerable to trade disputes, natural disasters and export restrictions. Large technology firms reserve production years in advance, while smaller buyers wait in line.
Hungry for energy
Chips are only part of the picture. Data centers full of AI hardware consume large amounts of electricity and water for cooling. In some regions, new data centers now compete with households and factories for grid capacity.
Supporters of the Northvale plan say the city’s former industrial sites, strong grid connections and access to river water for cooling make it a natural location. Critics in the Progress Party question whether the country can afford to compete with far larger economies.
What’s at stake
“The question isn’t whether we can match the biggest players,” said Ivana Rask of the Northvale industry association. “It’s whether our researchers and startups can get time on these machines without sending everything abroad.”
A committee vote on the plan is expected before the end of the year.
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