By Shailesh Mishra and Uma Vatsa
What quantum computing could change, if it works, is the ceiling on what the decades after that can build, because the limits on ammonia, energy storage, and electricity transmission are set by chemistry we cannot currently calculate. Those limits are already known. Describing them precisely enough to hand to a machine is work that can start now.
By Jeffrey D. Bean
While the Pax Silica initiative has been criticized for being non-binding, unfocused, U.S.-centric, and inconsistent in its membership, it is nonetheless the best-placed plurilateral initiative to advance what has been a bipartisan consensus in the United States on U.S. technological leadership.
By Raul Alfaro-Pelico
When the African Union took its permanent member seat at the G20 in 2023, it was read across the continent as a long-overdue correction. Three years on, the question is narrower and harder. What does the seat actually buy?
By Caroline Arkalji and Piyush Verma
Green iron could become an important energy security and industrial competitiveness issue. Reducing dependence on imported coal, building domestic clean industrial capacity, and preparing for future export markets could all strengthen India’s long-term position.
By Siddharth Yadav
The ability of attackers using AI systems to mount an autonomous attack is spreading. The systems best able to defend against one, including the two OpenAI models in this test, are either unreleased or restricted to organizations with advance approval. That gap necessitates treating open models that anyone can download and run as the foundation of cyber defense, rather than a fallback.
By Shailesh Mishra and Uma Vatsa
What quantum computing could change, if it works, is the ceiling on what the decades after that can build, because the limits on ammonia, energy storage, and electricity transmission are set by chemistry we cannot currently calculate. Those limits are already known. Describing them precisely enough to hand to a machine is work that can start now.
By Jeffrey D. Bean
While the Pax Silica initiative has been criticized for being non-binding, unfocused, U.S.-centric, and inconsistent in its membership, it is nonetheless the best-placed plurilateral initiative to advance what has been a bipartisan consensus in the United States on U.S. technological leadership.
By Siddharth Yadav
The ability of attackers using AI systems to mount an autonomous attack is spreading. The systems best able to defend against one, including the two OpenAI models in this test, are either unreleased or restricted to organizations with advance approval. That gap necessitates treating open models that anyone can download and run as the foundation of cyber defense, rather than a fallback.
By Dylan Morgan
While the CCP may view Cheng as an opportunity to revive engagement, Taiwan’s political realities continue to place limits on how far she can move towards accommodating Beijing. Her current efforts to moderate her platform and temper pushback may be able to help her make inroads with a broader audience.
By Andreas Kuehn and Tara Chawla
The AI buildout is not simply a race for more advanced accelerators, but an infrastructure-centered contest to turn technology, energy, and capital into usable computing capacity. The decisive measure will not be announced spending or planned capacity, but how quickly those commitments become reliable, operational computing capacity.
By Prateek Tripathi
Though the field of quantum computing is not mature enough to provide remarkable practical applications at the moment, recent developments serve to exemplify the asymmetric nature of quantum technology development and how multiple incremental advancements can potentially lead to overall progress.
By Amoha Basrur and Pranoy Jainendran
With applications already spanning the automotive, aerospace, and data-centre sectors, spintronics has become a strategic priority for countries with the manufacturing capacity to compete for it, driving targeted R&D funding, national roadmaps, and industry partnerships aimed at securing technological leadership and supply chain resilience.
By Siddharth Yadav
Global corporate AI investment reached US$581.7 billion in 2025, more than double the previous year’s total, with most of it flowing to the economies that already dominate research and hardware. Economies with nascent domestic digital infrastructure, investment vehicles, research ecosystems, and governance frameworks risk being marginalized by the AI-driven future.
By Gopalika Arora
The retrenchment of finance is not merely a result of a temporary slowdown in climate finance commitments by the developed countries. It may also signal a deeper restructuring of the climate finance architecture driven by changing institutional priorities within the multilateral system that was expected to anchor the transition.
By Andreas Kuehn and Cauvery Ganapathy
While the integration of AI offers benefits for the optimization of energy systems through grid management, renewable energy integration, predictive maintenance, and accurate forecasting of alternative forms of energy, its energy-intensive nature could also negatively impact the countries and ecosystems seeking to adopt it.
By Medha Prasanna
The oil age will not end because the world runs out of oil, but because oil reserves stop being worth pumping. The UAE has moved fast, not as just a knee-jerk reaction to the conflict in the region, but as a strategic divergence.
By Andre Nicola
Across South America, governments are increasingly framing environmental regulation as a constraint on growth, investment, and national competitiveness. South America's political direction over the next several years will be an early test of whether economic development can be reconciled with environmental stewardship throughout the region.
By Uma Vatsa and Shailesh Mishra
The AI industry is making large, long-lived bets on future demand, even as the technology itself is becoming more efficient. If AI systems become cheaper to run, more efficient to train, or less dependent on massively centralized compute, some of today’s infrastructure may prove oversized, poorly located, or economically fragile.
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