OECD Urges Governments to Plan for Domestic AI Compute

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a policy brief in October titled "Securing AI compute: Government policy approaches", urging governments to treat advanced computing power as essential strategic infrastructure. According to the report, governments face uneven access, rising costs and a lack of standardised domestic needs assessments.

The OECD analysed computing provisions in the AI strategies of the 46 member countries of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence and the European Union. The paper revealed that while 44 jurisdictions maintain national artificial intelligence strategies, only 21 have established compute as an independent strategic pillar.

To mitigate systemic dependencies, several emerging economies are pursuing public capital mobilisation and procurement models, according to the OECD. The study highlighted India's state-backed IndiaAI mission procuring over 18,000 graphics processing units to democratise access, alongside public interventions across the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia's HUMAIN venture. The OECD recommended that policymakers draft dedicated domestic compute plans, systematically audit research and industrial computing needs, and pursue voluntary knowledge sharing with countries at different levels of AI compute development, including developing and emerging economies.

What it means

For emerging markets, building domestic compute or securing diversified access is becoming indispensable to prevent foreign technological dependencies and retain sovereignty over local data and public services.