Vili Lehdonvirta
@ViliLe
Tech policy professor at @CSAalto and @oiioxford. How economics and geopolitics shape the global geography of cloud and AI. Digital Economic Security Lab DIESL.
I'm working on a new research project: The political geography of AI infrastructure. We're basically mapping cloud data centres, GPUs, and supercomputers. Expect a working paper in a couple of months. oii.ox.ac.uk/research/proje… #cloud #AI
“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,” @ViliLe @oiioxford @UniofOxford told @paulmozur @satariano @nytimes
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. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
1/ Enslaved people are being sold to the Russian army for up to 100,000 rubles ($1,240) each, according to anti-slavery campaigners. The issue highlights Russia's hidden but chronic problem with modern slavery, which Putin's government has failed to tackle. ⬇️
"The captain of a Hong Kong-flagged container ship has been remanded in custody on suspicion of severing a critical Baltic Sea gas pipeline running between Estonia and Finland two years ago."
Super interesting The captain of the Hong Kong-flagged NewNew Polar Bear that cut cables in the Baltic Sea is facing charges related to the incident... in Hong Kong! scmp.com/news/hong-kong…
Trending in #IR: ooir.org/index.php?fiel… 1) Decarbonising nat'l growth models (@ripejournal) 2) Activism of Thai Diasporas 3) Transformation of int'l studies before/during war (@risjnl) 4) Macrofinance & green transformation 5) Global reach of US & Chinese cloud data centres
US-China cloud competition, sovereign clouds, environmental impacts, and local opposition to data centres in our Digital Economic Security zoom seminar this term. Open to researchers and students from any university or research institution: diesl.eu/digital-econom…
Weaponised interdependence in a bipolar world: how economic forces and security interests shape the global reach of US and Chinese cloud data centres, by @ViliLe, @boxiwu_ & @_ZoeHawkins_ tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
What does Meta's undersea cable plan mean for geopolitics? New expert commentary from OII Prof @ViliLe and DPhil student Anniki Mikelsaar dives into the implications for data control & global connectivity: ox.ac.uk/news/2025-03-1…
Meta's Project Waterworth: Building the world's longest submarine cable. But what does it mean?@ViliLe & Anniki Mikelsaar explore the implications. Key takeaways: Big Tech's growing infrastructure control, US economic power, and resilient new routes. oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/wh…
Happening in one hour! #ISA2025 @isanet
I'll be presenting this work at the International Studies Association conference in Chicago in a session chaired by Abraham Newman this coming Monday at 8.15am, titled "Big Tech Companies as Governors and Objects of Governance in Global Politics" #ISA2025
I'll be presenting this work at the International Studies Association conference in Chicago in a session chaired by Abraham Newman this coming Monday at 8.15am, titled "Big Tech Companies as Governors and Objects of Governance in Global Politics" #ISA2025
New publication: "Weaponized interdependence in a bipolar world: How economic forces and security interests shape the global reach of U.S. and Chinese cloud data centres" forthcoming in Review of International Political Economy with @boxiwu_ @_ZoeHawkins_ osf.io/preprints/soca…
New publication: "Weaponized interdependence in a bipolar world: How economic forces and security interests shape the global reach of U.S. and Chinese cloud data centres" forthcoming in Review of International Political Economy with @boxiwu_ @_ZoeHawkins_ osf.io/preprints/soca…
"Over the past decade there has been a shift in which these cables are increasingly laid by large technology companies," @ViliLe @oiioxford @oxsocsci @JesusOxford told @liv_mcmahon @BBCTech @BBCNews.
Meta plans globe-spanning sub-sea internet cable bbc.in/4i3JIlh
€20 billion for "AI gigafactories" which will each have "around 100 000 last-generation AI chips". Nice big deal for Nvidia or AMD (...or Huawei's new Ascend?)
European innovation needs to be supercharged. Today, President @vonderleyen announced the world’s largest public-private partnership for trustworthy AI development – a total of €200 billion investment. An AI where everyone collaborates and benefits. This is our European way ↓
El Salvador notched another record: first country to rescind Bitcoin as legal tender
El Salvador's bitcoin payments experiment has ended after four years. Here's what the experiment taught us about bitcoin as money. My latest 👉 jpkoning.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-en…
Tickets are now sold out to attend this event in person! We're looking forward to seeing many of you in Oxford in a couple of weeks. For those of you who would like to attend online/remotely, please register using the following form: forms.office.com/pages/response…
Check out the schedule for our seminar on Ukrainian Environmentalisms below 👇 Friday 31st January at Reuben College, Oxford. Registration is now open, and there are some tickets left: eventbrite.co.uk/e/ukrainian-en… @marnie_howlett @jonnyjjt