Paul Mozur

Saudi Arabia, Rich With Oil, Wants to Be Known as the A.I. Exporter

Success is no sure thing. They're taking a bit of a "Field of Dreams" approach, hoping if they build the data centers, the business will come. It's not clear it will work. The approach also competes with U.A.E. which has a head start in buildout, and knowhow. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/t...

Saudi Arabia, Rich With Oil, Wants to Be Known as the A.I. Exporter

Saudi Arabia has courted the Trump administration to help ensure approvals go through for sales of A.I. chips, though some in the administration have worried about its ties to China and Chinese A.I. firms like DeepSeek and Zhipu. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/t...

Saudi Arabia, Rich With Oil, Wants to Be Known as the A.I. Exporter

Saudi's abundant energy means the cost of operating the data center could be 30 percent cheaper than the U.S.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/t...

Saudi Arabia, Rich With Oil, Wants to Be Known as the A.I. Exporter

Instead of exporting oil, the kingdom wants to export computing power. The idea is coders in Europe, Africa, and Asia connect to Saudi data centers filled with Nvidia and AMD chips. "Data embassy" zones would be set up so firms operate under their own laws. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/t...

Saudi Arabia, Rich With Oil, Wants to Be Known as the A.I. Exporter

Our latest on the global AI boom looks at how Saudi Arabia is trying to turn is billions in oil wealth into a real advantage in AI. The calculation is that AI is one of the few businesses that give it the same geopolitical sway that its energy resources have. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/t...

How Chile Embodies A.I.’s No-Win Politics

They also hope to force American tech firms building data centers to grant a percentage of local AI compute to Chilean universities and companies. It's a novel model. One that would give countries a way to keep up in an AI race that is rapidly leaving them behind.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

How Chile Embodies A.I.’s No-Win Politics

The government is endeavoring to give faster approvals to companies that build hundreds of miles north, where there is ample solar energy - cheap energy can help companies cut back water requirements for data center cooling.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

How Chile Embodies A.I.’s No-Win Politics

As one official said: "We didn't have the energy for it. Most of all we didn't have the water."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

How Chile Embodies A.I.’s No-Win Politics

In AI, Chile is a leader for the region. Yet it lags leaders like China and the U.S. It also is facing potential environmental catastrophe. Already the arid capital of Santiago has more than 30 data centers, with another 30 expected to be built in the next few years.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

How Chile Embodies A.I.’s No-Win Politics

My latest story looks at the politics of AI in a country that is facing all the big problems and questions of AI at once. How it fares will become an example or a cautionary tale.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

How Chile Embodies A.I.’s No-Win Politics

Chile is not generally a place that gets much attention from the tech world. But the way it has been dealing with AI and the massive build out in data centers should.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy

The dynamic will only get more intense in the years to come, with data center spending jumping from $375 billion this year to $500 billion in 2026. A portion of the expansion will be in places like La Esperanza, which already struggle to get enough water and power. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy

This has led to a global fight, with people across more than a 12 countries pushing back+asking for new controls. Governments with AI fomo, are in a difficult position. Many feel if they reject the big tech firms, they're missing out on the future. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy

One person told us "I don't even know who to be angry at." A Mexican official described the NDAs he signed an NDA as a "public service" even though it meant withholding information from the public and Mexico's utility. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy

Its one example of growing crises triggered by a global data center building boom. In Ireland next year almost one-third of the country's electricity is expected to go to data centers. Often tech companies hide their presence behind subsidiaries and service operators. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy

When a Microsoft data center opened next to the small Mexican town of La Esperanza, locals say electricity outages and water shortages grew severe. The local doctor rushed patients a half hour to the nearest hospital when blackouts cut off his oxygen concentrator. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

A Mystery C.E.O. and Billions in Sales: Is China Buying Banned Nvidia Chips?

Our newest AI investigation opens in a Taipei bar where Chinese exec Alice Huang toasted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Her company soon began receiving billions in AI chips.

Now her firm is being investigated by the U.S. government for selling those chips on to China. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/t...

Anatomy of Two Giant Deals: The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches.

The Trump family got a $2 billion deposit into their crypto company, the United Arab Emirates got a huge amount of restricted AI chips despite security concerns. Our story about how how business is being done, and influence gained, in the second Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

“Oil-producing countries have had an oversized influence on international affairs; in an A.I.-powered near future, compute producers could have something similar since they control access to a critical resource,” Prof Vili Lehdonvirta told @paulmozur.bsky.social, @nytimes.com.

A.I. Computing Power Is Splitting the World Into Haves and Have-Nots As countries race to power artificial intelligence, a yawning gap is opening around the world.

A new A.I. divide is forming. As the biggest companies and richest countries scramble for GPUs, much of the world is being left behind. It's a new type of inequality that will go a long way to determining development in the coming years. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How China Uses High-Tech Surveillance to Subdue Minorities (Published 2019) China has turned the Xinjiang region in its far west into an incubator for automated authoritarianism that could spread across the country and beyond.

What was striking in reporting this story was how much Geo's surveillance app reminded me of apps I've seen used in China and other authoritarian countries. The context is different in a democracy, but it raises big questions about the humane use of surveillance. www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/w...

It also gives Geo Group a surprisingly complete hold over immigration in the U.S. One subject we followed was added to Geo's surveillance when he entered, was arrested at a Geo office by ICE when summoned, and now sits at a Geo facility awaiting deportation. The company makes money on each step.

For Geo Group, the surveillance is a major profit center. Its margins on the service are about 50%. For an immigrant to send a checkin selfie, it charges the US government $1.00. Sources said managers pressure Geo employees to rush thru immigrant oversight procedures. It was all about numbers.

How Geo Group’s Surveillance Tech Is Aiding Trump’s Immigration Agenda Geo Group, a private prison firm that makes digital tools to track immigrants, becomes one of the Trump administration’s big business winners as its tech is increasingly used in deportations.

The US' largest private prison operator, Geo Group, also runs one of its largest immigrant surveillance programs. Now, ICE is using the privately run system to track and deport growing numbers of people. 200k are currently in the system. Geo expects it to grow. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/t...

Good piece in China Talk @jordanschneider.bsky.social I’ve been trying to hit these points in our recent DeepSeek stories. Its approach is very against the grain for China tech. Completely opposed to the grueling hours/top-down ethic that typify big tech in China www.chinatalk.media/p/deepseeks-...

If confirmed as a commercial airliner in the Potomac, this mid-air collision at DCA would be the worst U.S. air disaster since the Colgan Air Q400 crash near Buffalo in 2009.

Who Is Liang Wenfeng, the Founder of the A.I. Start-Up DeepSeek? The Chinese company DeepSeek seemed to have come out of nowhere this week when it upturned markets. Here’s what to know about Liang Wenfeng, the engineer who started it.

A short explainer on Liang Wenfeng. It is amazing how much he does NOT sound like a Chinese tech boss. In the context of China's grueling tech work environment he sounds downright hippyish: "Everyone has their own unique journey and brings their own ideas with them, so there’s no need to push them."

TRUMP'S DANGEROUS FREEZE OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL HIRING Washington, D.C. — Today, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Aviation Steve Cohen (D-TN) released the following statements after President Trump froze the hiring of Air Traffic Controllers, among other safety-critical positions. "The bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 directs the Administration to hire the maximum number of air traffic controllers. That's what the law says, so the Administration must rescind this ridiculous executive order," Ranking Member Larsen said. "Hiring air traffic controllers is the number one safety issue according to the entire aviation industry. Instead of working to improve aviation safety and lower costs for hardworking American families, the Administration is choosing to spread bogus DEl claims to justify this decision. I'm not surprised by the President's dangerous and divisive actions, but the Administration must reverse course. Let's get back to aviation safety and allow the FAA to do its job protecting the flying public." "Our top priority must be the safety of the flying public so an order freezing the hiring of air traffic controllers is a misguided decision and goes against the directives of our FAA Reauthorization bill," Ranking Member Cohen said. "The aviation community will speak with one voice in condemning this short-sighted policy and reaffirm our

the first fatal commercial plane crash in 16 years happened just days after Trump froze hiring of air traffic controllers that were already stretched thin