Sovereign AI Is an Infrastructure Problem, Not a Model Problem

Nations across Asia and the Middle East are racing to deploy AI at scale — but model access is no longer the binding constraint. The real competition is over compute sovereignty: who controls the infrastructure, where data lives, and which economies can run inference within their own borders. Drawing on national AI strategies across the US, Europe, Japan, and Korea, this session examines why sovereign AI is ultimately a data center decision, and what it means for the Asia-Middle East innovation corridor taking shape today.