Global South
Six tests America’s new open model faces in the Global South
Reflection is pitching Beam as the American alternative to Chinese open weights. For governments and builders in the Global South, the questions that matter are weights, size, price and strings.
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ChinaWhat Qualcomm is buying from Huawei’s AI portfolioGlobal SouthKazakhstan says it will not choose between US and China on AIData centreUS lawmakers target Chinese optical modules used in AI data centresGlobal SouthCan China-Africa AI cooperation turn access into local capability?AIKazakhstan proposes BRICS+ AI partnershipAIKazakhstan stays in China’s AI club as US weighs ‘pick a side’ warning
China
Across the Global South
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Six tests America’s new open model faces in the Global South
Reflection is pitching Beam as the American alternative to Chinese open weights. For governments and builders in the Global South, the questions that matter are weights, size, price and strings.
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Kazakhstan says it will not choose between US and China on AI
A vice minister says Astana is ready to work with both. Within three weeks, its president reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s founding role in WAICO and praised a Trump-backed AI accord.
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Can China-Africa AI cooperation turn access into local capability?
A Beijing programme is sending African lecturers home with an AI curriculum and access to computing. Nigeria wants similar help. The harder part is what happens after the training ends.
Deployment Tracker
Every project carries a status. An MoU is not a deployment, and we say which is which.
| Project | Status | Scale | Signed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan NTC × Data Vault sovereign AI services contractPakistan | Announced | Undisclosed | 16–17 Jul 2026; go-live undisclosed |
| Indonesia 1.3GW pipelineIndonesia | Announced | 1.3 GW of stated investor interest; ~580 MW currently operational | None |
| China’s Runjian plans cross-border AI token service for ASEANNanning, China; target markets in Indonesia and Malaysia | Announced | Undisclosed | 18 July 2026; launch date undisclosed |
| ByteDance 200MW campus, Ceará (Brazil)Ceará, Brazil | ContractedConstruction underway | ~200 MW IT, 20 halls (phase one); build-out toward ~1 GW | 18 May 2026 (power); tenant contract undisclosed |
OperationalContractedAnnouncedUnclear
Last reviewed Companies to Watch
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Cassava Technologies
Africa's most capitalised digital infrastructure group, with both Google and NVIDIA on its share register — and a GPU rollout announced at four times what is installed.
Company profile →
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Scala Data Centers
Latin America's largest hyperscale data centre platform, and the developer behind a campus authorised for a 5GW grid connection.
Company profile →
Analysis
Context and interpretation for the decisions shaping technology deployment.
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Recipients or shapers? What the global south brings to the AI governance table
The Global South holds real leverage in AI — data, deployment scenarios, talent — but whether it shapes governance or just receives it depends on exercising that leverage.
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Can China’s “token factories” ease Southeast Asia’s compute squeeze?
A conventional data centre rents servers by the hour. A token factory keeps the machines, runs the models, and sells only what comes out — from Nanning, over a dedicated line.
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What “token factory” actually means
One phrase now covers three different businesses — a capacity framework, a server sale and an operated inference layer. Meanwhile Chinese prices are moving in both directions at once.