The Neglected Security Gaps in the Global Race for Sovereign AI

2025 #ShareTheMicInCyber Fellow Seungmin Helen Lee wrote an article for World Politics Review about . Her piece argues that without sufficient incentives for industry and clear cybersecurity standards for data centers, countries racing to achieve AI sovereignty will be hampered by insufficiently secured infrastructure. In particular, Seungmin highlights how offshoring strategies expose data centers to geopolitical risks, such as the US' plans build data centers in the UAE, a region that China has invested heavily in as part of their Digital Silk Road 2.0:

AI data centers requires careful consideration of cybersecurity and geopolitical risks. Because defending against the most well-resourced and trained threat actors requires significant investments from AI data center companies, national AI policies and plans should incentivize these operators to meet precise technical standards for cybersecurity.

This article is written based on Seungmin's New America report on the cybersecurity risks of AI data centers. You can access the full report on New America's website.