On 16 September 2026, Rest of World published an analysis of the artificial intelligence strategies of Global South countries. States from Latin America to Southeast Asia and the Middle East are deliberately splitting their procurement: American chips for infrastructure and Chinese open models for system development. This approach allows them to retain control over data and avoid complete dependence on a single superpower.
Saudi Arabia launched the Humain-m3 model based on the open system of the Chinese company MiniMax. At the same time, the kingdom is investing billions in infrastructure through deals with Nvidia. Brazil split 444 million dollars: 255 million were allocated to a supercomputer with Huawei and iFlytek, and 189 million to a tender with Nvidia. President Lula da Silva emphasized that the goal is not to depend on a single company or country and to strengthen sovereignty over data.
Egypt is considering Huawei's proposals for building data centers alongside Nvidia projects. Malaysia is studying Huawei Ascend 910C accelerators for its sovereign AI initiative, despite warnings from the United States. These examples show that countries choose components based on technical and economic criteria, not geopolitical directives.
American chips remain indispensable in the segment of advanced semiconductors, networking equipment and cloud infrastructure. Chinese open models, by contrast, offer affordable alternatives for training and fine-tuning, especially when the budget is limited. Such a hybrid reduces risks: data remains under national control, and models can be adapted to local languages and tasks without transferring sensitive information abroad.
The methodology of separating projects makes it possible to test the performance of different stacks on real-world tasks. In Saudi Arabia, the Chinese base showed the best results for the Arabic language, which determined the choice. Brazil is holding parallel tenders in order to compare efficiency and cost. Such an empirical approach gives a more accurate picture than political declarations.
The United States is trying to build alliances such as Pax Silica and the U.S.-ASEAN AI Spark initiative, offering financial and technical support. China is promoting WAICO — an open organization focused on cooperation and norms. However, many countries, including Singapore and Kazakhstan, participate in both structures, demonstrating an unwillingness to choose a side.
Experts note that pressure to choose one side produces the opposite effect. Even U.S. allies in Europe are reconsidering their dependence on American technologies. Global South countries see this as an opportunity to preserve flexibility and independence by working with both suppliers.
Chinese companies are actively competing at the infrastructure level, offering Ascend chips and cloud solutions. American firms retain an advantage in the most advanced accelerators. The performance gap is gradually narrowing, which makes Chinese options increasingly attractive for budget projects.
The strategic choice of the Global South is changing the dynamics of global competition. Washington is losing leverage where countries can afford only Chinese open models. Beijing gains access to markets without having to impose harsh conditions.
The question of the long-term compatibility of hybrid systems remains open. How will security, updates and knowledge transfer between American hardware and Chinese software be handled? Independent audits and benchmarks will show how sustainable such an architecture is.
Future research will likely focus on real-world cases of data migration and performance under sanctions or export restrictions. It is this data that will determine whether the hybrid model becomes a sustainable norm or a temporary compromise.
Global South countries are demonstrating that technological sovereignty is achieved not through isolation, but through the skillful combination of the best available solutions.
