Home › AI by Country
Hub · Countries
AI by Country: rules, players and computing power
How thirteen countries and regions are regulating AI, who the major players are, and how much computing infrastructure they report, each statement tied to a primary source.
Last reviewed Oct 3, 2026
How to read this page. Confirmed means we read the primary page for that statement (a law, a government release, a statistics agency or a research report). Reported marks a company or government statement of its own plans or capacity. Unverified means we could not confirm. Laws change quickly, so each card cites the page we read and the date. Details are on How we verify. Where a figure could not be sourced, it is left out.
Side-by-side snapshot
The numbers in the last three columns come from Stanford’s AI Index 2026 (data-center counts from Cloudscene; investment from Quid). An em dash means the country is not listed in the part of the source we read, not that the value is zero. Regulation status summarizes the cards below, which carry the sources.
| Jurisdiction | Regulation status | Data centers (2025) | Notable models (2025) | Private AI investment 2025 ($B) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Executive orders, an action plan and state laws | 5,427 | 59 | 285.88 |
| China | Binding national rules for generative AI and AI labeling | 449 | 35 | 12.41 |
| European Union | Binding horizontal law (EU AI Act), phased in | Germany 529, France 322, Netherlands 298, Italy 168, Poland 144 | 1 (France) | France 4.36, Germany 3.89 |
| United Kingdom | Existing regulators apply non-statutory principles | 523 | 1 | 5.90 |
| India | Governance guidelines that rely on existing laws | 153 | — | 4.09 |
| Japan | Promotion-focused law plus a national plan | 222 | — | 1.11 |
| South Korea | Framework law in force Jan 22, 2026 | — | 8 | 1.78 |
| United Arab Emirates | National strategy; new AI and data authority | — | — | — |
| Saudi Arabia | Not verified from a primary source | — | — | 2.03 |
| Canada | National strategy (June 2026); laws planned | 337 | 1 | 4.28 |
| Brazil | Bill passed the Senate; pending in the Chamber | 197 | — | — |
| Australia | National AI Plan (Dec 2025) | 314 | — | 2.52 |
| Singapore | Governance frameworks; data-center standards bill | — | 1 | 1.82 |
Data-center counts are facility counts, not capacity. Investment covers private companies only and excludes most government spending.
United States
Rules and policy
- Confirmed Executive Order 14365 (signed Dec 11, 2025) states a policy of a “minimally burdensome national policy framework” for AI and creates an AI Litigation Task Force.1
- Confirmed America’s AI Action Plan (July 2025) is organized in three pillars: accelerate AI innovation, build American AI infrastructure, and lead in international AI diplomacy and security.2
- Confirmed State laws: Stanford’s AI Index 2026 lists California SB 53 (signed Sept 29, 2025) and Texas TRAIGA (signed 2025, effective 2026) and reports a record number of state-level AI bills.3 Colorado’s SB 26-189 (approved May 14, 2026) re-enacts its 2024 AI law as a regime for automated decision-making technology in consequential decisions, effective Jan 1, 2027.4
Major players and programs
- The AI Index counts 59 notable AI models from U.S. organizations in 2025, including OpenAI (20), Google (14), Anthropic (7), xAI (5), Meta (4) and Nvidia (3).5
- Newly funded AI companies in 2025: 1,953 in the U.S., the most of any country in the AI Index.6
- Stanford’s AI Index reports the top U.S. model led the best Chinese model by 2.7% as of March 2026, and that the U.S. still produces more top-tier models.7
Compute and data centers
- 5,427 data centers in 2025 (a facility count, not capacity).5
- The IEA attributes 45% of 2024 data-center electricity to the U.S.; LBNL puts U.S. data centers at 176 TWh, 4.4% of U.S. electricity, in 2023.8,9
- Private AI investment in 2025: $285.88 billion (Quid data, via the AI Index).6
- Named projects (company announcements, Reported) are on the Data Centers hub.
China
Rules and policy
- Confirmed Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services, effective Aug 15, 2023.10
- Confirmed Measures for labeling AI-generated synthetic content, effective Sept 1, 2025.11
- Confirmed In Aug 2025 the State Council issued opinions on deepening an “AI+” action to integrate AI across the economy and society.12 We did not carry over the opinion’s numeric targets because we could not confirm them on the page.
Major players and programs
- The AI Index counts 35 notable models from Chinese organizations in 2025; organizations named in its list include Alibaba (11), DeepSeek (4), Tsinghua University (4), ByteDance (3), Moonshot (3), Z.ai (3), MiniMax (2), Shanghai AI Lab (2), Ant Group (1) and Baidu (1).5
- The AI Index says China leads in publication volume, citations, patent output and industrial robot installations.7
Compute and data centers
- 449 data centers in 2025 (facility count).5 The IEA attributes 25% of 2024 data-center electricity to China.8
- The “Eastern Data, Western Computing” project approved in Feb 2022 covers eight national computing hubs and ten planned national data-center clusters.13
- Private AI investment in 2025 shown by the AI Index: $12.41 billion. The AI Index notes this likely understates total investment because of government guidance funds.6
European Union
Rules and policy
- Confirmed The AI Act entered into force Aug 1, 2024. Prohibitions and AI-literacy duties applied from Feb 2, 2025; obligations for general-purpose AI models from Aug 2, 2025.14
- Confirmed Per the Commission’s timeline page, transparency (Article 50) rules and enforcement start Aug 2, 2026; new prohibitions on non-consensual sexual deepfakes and child sexual abuse material apply from Dec 2, 2026; Annex III high-risk rules from Dec 2, 2027 and Annex I from Aug 2, 2028, following the Digital Omnibus on AI.14
Major players and programs
Compute and data centers
- Data centers (2025): Germany 529, France 322, Netherlands 298, Italy 168, Poland 144.5 The IEA attributes 15% of 2024 data-center electricity to Europe as a whole.8
- Ireland: data centers were 22% of metered electricity in 2024.15
- Reported On July 30, 2026 the Commission launched a call for up to seven AI gigafactories (€10 billion of EU and national funding, at least €20 billion of private investment sought) and counts 19 AI Factories.16
United Kingdom
Rules and policy
- Confirmed The Government’s Feb 2024 response to its consultation set out five cross-sector principles to be applied by existing regulators, without new AI-specific legislation at that stage.17
- Reported The Government’s one-year review of its AI Opportunities Action Plan says it has met 38 of the 50 actions.18
- Confirmed The AI Index notes the UK moved in Feb 2025 to criminalize AI tools designed to generate child sexual abuse material.3
Major players and programs
Compute and data centers
- 523 data centers in 2025 (facility count).5 Private AI investment in 2025: $5.90 billion.6
- Reported The review reports 5 AI Growth Zones with £28.2 billion of related investment, Isambard-AI launched in Bristol, and £2 billion committed to expand UK compute twentyfold by 2030.18
- We did not find an AI-specific UK statute in the sources reviewed; check gov.uk for any change after the review date.
India
Rules and policy
- Confirmed India AI Governance Guidelines were unveiled Nov 5, 2025: seven guiding principles, six pillars and an action plan. MeitY said the approach is to use existing legislation wherever possible.19
Major players and programs
Compute and data centers
Japan
Rules and policy
Major players and programs
- Japan shows 56 newly funded AI companies and $1.11 billion of private AI investment in 2025 (AI Index).6
South Korea
Rules and policy
- Confirmed The AI Basic Act took effect Jan 22, 2026. The ministry describes a grace period of at least a year before penalties apply and a “minimum regulation” principle; it sets safety obligations for very large models at a 10²⁶ FLOPs threshold, covers ten high-impact areas and requires transparency and labeling.24
Major players and programs
Compute and data centers
- Reported NVIDIA said on Oct 30, 2025 that more than 260,000 of its GPUs would be deployed in Korea, including more than 50,000 for government and cloud providers (National AI Computing Center) and more than 50,000 for Samsung.25
United Arab Emirates
Rules and policy
- Confirmed The UAE Media Office reported on June 14, 2026 that a new Artificial Intelligence and Data Authority was approved as a single national body for data, AI and digital government, reporting to the Cabinet.26
- Confirmed The UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 is the long-running national framework.27
- We did not verify the status of any federal AI statute from a primary source and make no claim either way.
Major players and programs
- The AI Index reports 64% generative-AI adoption in the UAE, among the highest it measured.6
Compute and data centers
- Reported Stargate UAE: a 1 GW cluster in Abu Dhabi announced in May 2025 with a first 200 MW expected in 2026; named partners G42, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco and SoftBank.28
- The AI Index tables we read do not list UAE data-center counts or private investment, so we show none.
Saudi Arabia
Rules and policy
- Unverified We did not find a primary-source description of a binding Saudi AI law, so we make no claim about regulation status.
Major players and programs
Compute and data centers
- The PIF release gives no capacity figure for HUMAIN’s data centers, so we show none.29
Canada
Rules and policy
- Confirmed Prime Minister Carney launched “AI for All,” Canada’s national AI strategy, on June 4, 2026.30
- Reported The strategy says Canada will modernize consumer privacy legislation, introduce online safety laws, and provide legal tools to combat deepfakes. These are stated plans, not enacted law.31
Major players and programs
Brazil
Rules and policy
Major players and programs
- The sources reviewed for this page did not list Brazil in the AI Index’s notable-model or private-investment tables, so we show none.
Compute and data centers
- 197 data centers in 2025 (facility count).5
Australia
Rules and policy
- Confirmed The National AI Plan, published Dec 2, 2025, sets three goals: capture the opportunity, spread the benefits and keep Australians safe, the last through legislative and regulatory frameworks that mitigate AI harms.34
Major players and programs
- Private AI investment in 2025: $2.52 billion (AI Index).6
Compute and data centers
- 314 data centers in 2025 (facility count).5
Singapore
Rules and policy
- Confirmed IMDA published a Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI in January 2026, giving organizations guidance on assessing risks, human accountability, technical controls and end-user responsibility.35
- Confirmed On Sept 9, 2026 the Ministry of Digital Development and Information said a Digital Infrastructure Bill will mandate baseline sustainability standards for all data centers.36
Major players and programs
Compute and data centers
- The ministry says it is reviewing the need for more data-center capacity.36
- The AI Index tables we read do not list a Singapore data-center count, so we show none.
Sources for this page
- Executive Order 14365: Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. The White House (Federal Register publication Dec 16, 2025).
- America’s AI Action Plan. The White House.
- AI Index Report 2026, Chapter 8: Policy and Governance. Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI.
- Colorado SB 26-189 (session law). Colorado General Assembly.
- AI Index Report 2026, Chapter 1: Research and Development (data-center counts, AI power capacity). Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI.
- AI Index Report 2026, Chapter 4: Economy (private investment, new companies, adoption). Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI.
- The 2026 AI Index Report: top takeaways. Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI.
- Energy and AI: Executive summary. International Energy Agency.
- 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (LBNL-2001637). Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
- Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services (Order No. 15). Cyberspace Administration of China et al. (gov.cn, Chinese).
- Measures for Labeling AI-Generated Synthetic Content (gov.cn, Chinese). Cyberspace Administration of China et al..
- State Council opinions on deepening the “AI+” action (国发〔2025〕11号, gov.cn, Chinese). State Council of China.
- China launches project for greater computing power, digital future (China Daily, hosted by NDRC). National Development and Reform Commission, China.
- Timeline for the implementation of the EU AI Act. European Commission, AI Act Service Desk.
- Data Centres Metered Electricity Consumption 2024: Key findings. Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
- EU launches AI Gigafactories call. European Commission.
- A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation: government response. UK Government (DSIT).
- AI Opportunities Action Plan: one year on. UK Government (gov.uk).
- India AI Governance Guidelines (press release). Press Information Bureau, Government of India.
- IndiaAI Mission compute update (press release). Press Information Bureau, Government of India.
- Our first AI hub in India, powered by a $15 billion investment. Google (blog.google, India).
- Outline of the Act on Promotion of Research and Development and Utilization of AI-Related Technologies. Cabinet Office, Japan.
- Japan adopts first AI Basic Plan. The Japan Times.
- Enforcement of the AI Basic Act (press release). Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea.
- South Korea AI infrastructure announcement. NVIDIA.
- Mohammed bin Rashid approves establishing the Artificial Intelligence and Data Authority. UAE Media Office.
- UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031. UAE Government.
- Introducing Stargate UAE. OpenAI.
- HRH Crown Prince launches HUMAIN as global AI powerhouse. Public Investment Fund (Saudi Arabia).
- Prime Minister Carney launches “AI for All”, Canada’s new national AI strategy. Prime Minister of Canada.
- AI for All: Canada’s national AI strategy. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.
- Senado aprova regulamentação da inteligência artificial; texto vai à Câmara (PL 2338/2023). Agência Senado (Portuguese).
- Ficha de tramitação, PL 2338/2023. Câmara dos Deputados (Portuguese).
- National AI Plan. Department of Industry, Science and Resources (Australia).
- Factsheet: Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI. Infocomm Media Development Authority (Singapore).
- MDDI response to PQ on future data centre capacity plans in support of AI adoption. Ministry of Digital Development and Information (Singapore).