Despite different political systems, the US and Chinese internets have converged because power is highly centralized. Whether it's a government controlling platforms like Weibo or tech oligarchs like Elon Musk controlling X, the result is a small group dictating the digital public square's rules.

While massive data consumption is a key driver, India's data center growth is significantly accelerated by government regulations. Mandates requiring financial institutions and other entities to house client data within the country create a guaranteed, protected demand for local infrastructure.

The funding model for undersea cables has shifted from state-owned telecom consortiums to private investment, and now to big tech. Giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft now fund and own two-thirds of all new cables, giving them unprecedented control over the internet's physical infrastructure.

Geopolitical friction is preventing US and Chinese firms from collaborating on new cable projects, leading to the development of redundant, competing systems. This trend risks bifurcating the internet, creating separate spheres of influence and undermining the original vision of a single, open global network.

Similar to the financial sector, tech companies are increasingly pressured to act as a de facto arm of the government, particularly on issues like censorship. This has led to a power struggle, with some tech leaders now publicly pre-committing to resist future government requests.

When the U.S. government becomes a major shareholder, it can create significant challenges for a company's international operations. Foreign governments and customers may view the company with suspicion, raising concerns about data privacy, security, and its role as a potential tool of U.S. policy.

The US government's demand for TikTok to store American user data on US servers is identical to the policy China has long required of foreign tech companies. This rule is why platforms like Facebook, which refused to comply, are unavailable in China.

For years, foreign governments hesitated to regulate US tech giants due to explicit threats of retaliatory tariffs from the U.S. Trade Representative, creating a favorable global environment for American tech monopolies.

The country that controls the physical internet infrastructure (hardware) can compromise everything running on it. This makes hardware the decisive battlefield in the global technology war, more critical than software-level information operations.