In my new book, West Asia, I trace the rise of the Gulf as a nerve center for this expansive system, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Order West Asia today: a.co/d/07MPms0V

Happy book release day! Order your copy today. www.amazon.com/West-Asia-Am...

Trump’s Board of Peace

Taiwan’s technology industry would also commit to making at least $250 billion in direct investments to expand advanced semiconductor, energy and artificial intelligence operations in the US. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Meta is signaling a deeper push into the Gulf’s AI race through a high-profile hire with close ties to the region. www.axios.com/2026/01/12/m...?

Gulf capital is structurally intertwined with the success of leading AI frontier labs, including Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, and many others. x.ai/news/series-e

Kissingerian consolidation

They had "Venezuela" in the search bar with the latest tab selected so they could see real time updates as posts were coming through

Trump: "The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal. And we've superseded it by a lot. They now call it the Donro Doctrine."

Happy New Year. We are closer to 2050 than to 2000!

Keep an eye on Nvidia’s growing footprint in Israel: “Such a transaction would effectively provide Nvidia with a fast-track expansion of its AI talent base in Israel, at an implied cost of roughly $10-15 million per employee.” www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/ar...

At this rate, America's biotech industry won't just sputter, it will collapse before it can even compete with China.

After Nvidia-Groq, here’s another milestone acquisition: Meta-Manus right before the sunsetting of 2025. Expect more acquisitions in 2026! manus.im/blog/manus-j...

“When the towers came down, it changed the game.” A long goodbye to the first quarter of the 21st century. open.substack.com/pub/soliman/...

happy holidays!! 🎄🎁🎅

What to watch: Secretary Bessent laid out the strategic industries where the government wants to step in to push reshoring: chips, steel, shipbuilding, and pharmaceuticals.

As 2025 winds down, I’ve been reflecting on a year that felt unusually full of movement, ideas, and life changes. And grateful for the conversations, the travel, and the people who shaped this year. If you’re curious: lnkd.in/et4Mc-Vx

As 2025 winds down, I’ve been reflecting on a year that felt unusually full of movement, ideas, and life changes. And grateful for the conversations, the travel, and the people who shaped this year. If you’re curious: lnkd.in/et4Mc-Vx

After Ukraine, Russia’s next move may be in the Middle East—this book shows how and why. West Asia by Mohammed Soliman (@soliman.bsky.social) is out now in the UK. See more: www.politybooks.com/...

Google’s TPUs are on a serious winning streak, across the board. #Anthropic www.anthropic.com/news/expandi...

Just back from the Mediterranean Dialogues in Napoli, after an incredible few days discussing the AI infrastructure boom reshaping the region — from subsea cables to an emerging U.S.–EU–Gulf AI infrastructure bridge.

“We’ve underestimated Chinese power…I think the Chinese technology, military, and economics are stronger than we think they are.” — Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to China

The internet we knew is disappearing. In 2020, almost everything online was written by people. Now, nearly half of it comes from AI and by next year, it could be most of it. AI made words cheap. Truth got expensive.

Shocking for me and for the entire DC foreign policy community. Ashley Tellis has been accused of unlawfully removing classified documents from secure government locations and holding multiple meetings with Chinese officials dating back to 2023. www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/p...

How It Started….. How It's Going

Each F-35 requires 418 kg of rare earths, an Arleigh Burke destroyer requires 2,600 kg, and a Virginia-class submarine requires 4,600 kg. With the majority of U.S. imports coming from China. Unprecedented crisis.

OpenAI makes up around $330B of the $880B total future contract value (RPO) tied to Microsoft, Oracle, and CoreWeave, so a lot of supplier growth depends directly on OpenAI’s stability.

how money is moving around the AI ecosystem

how money is moving around the AI ecosystem

Great discussion by @soliman.bsky.social at @fpri.bsky.social. Even with increases in defense spending, it is the capacity to produce at scale which is going to matter. Do you have the supply chains, raw materials and components in place and the industrial capacity and the requisite labor force? 1/

I keep returning to America's scale problem, and I've decided it's more effective to frame it using defense terms to illustrate its concrete meaning. www.fpri.org/article/2025...

Claude continues to be the firefox of LLMs, huh

OpenAI still commands the lion’s share of traffic in the generative AI space but that grip is loosening. We’re moving toward a more pluralistic, multi-agent ecosystem.

Infrastructure capex is projected to exceed $2.1 trillion by 2029.

Policymakers, scholars, investors: Need to track the seismic shifts in geopolitics, connectivity, AI, energy, and capital linking the Middle East, Mediterranean Europe, and Indian Ocean? Book drops Feb 3, 2026. Pre-order on Amazon. www.amazon.com/West-Asia-Am...

This is why I like the geo-technology concept for getting us to focus both on the brainpower but also on the necessary industrial and resource base …

Great conversation with @emmamashford.bsky.social on why we need a techno-industrial strategy for the exponential age. My view is shaped by two forces: the return of Asia as the center of global power + the rise of AI as the new foundation of industrial strength. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPnm...

🇲🇽🇲🇽 Mexico City — unmatched

AI adoption actually falling now for many firms

Back in 2023, training an LLM was pretty simple: pretraining and post-training. By 2025, the recipe has gotten a lot more layered: data mixtures, midtraining for reasoning and context, advanced post-training, and even model merging. Moving fast….

Of 20 fastest-growing European cities, 10 are Polish

Radiology makes up the bulk of AI medical devices, with nearly 80% of FDA clearances in 2024.

American teenagers aren’t reading less—they’re barely reading at all.

Sam Altman Explains Why the World Needs More AI Infrastructure

The war on terror has come full circle. What was it all about? What was America fighting for, exactly? No one knows… Endless bloodshed and war for war’s sake. Nations destroyed. And irreversible damage to America’s political system.

Huawei has built around 70% of Africa’s 4G networks, partnering with governments and companies in the continent’s largest economies, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Chinese investment and construction in technology in Africa, 2005-2025

#Datacenters sit at the intersection of technology, construction, and heavy industry, where all three have to move in sync to make them work. #AI sovereigncompute.substack.com/p/not-just-c...

Warning from @soliman.bsky.social: American leaders have a choice: build the systems that will shape the future, or others will build them for you. In the coming century, those who control production have the power. www.stimson.org/2025/techno-...

When you ask an LLM a question, you don’t always get the same answer twice. For AI users—whether individuals or enterprises—that’s a serious problem. Read more in my Substack: Determinism as Destiny: Why Defeating Nondeterminism in LLMs Matters open.substack.com/pub/sovereig...