The concentration documented in previous sections has a stark geographic dimension. Pakistan, like most of the Global South, has zero presence across the entire AI supply chain: no domestic GPU design, no chip fabrication, no EUV lithography, no hyperscale cloud infrastructure. Complete dependence on foreign providers raises fundamental questions about digital sovereignty.

The geographic pattern is not accidental. Energy and water — the inputs documented in Section 09 — are precisely the resources scarce in much of the Global South. AI capacity concentrates where energy is cheap and abundant, reinforcing existing patterns of global inequality.

If TSMC were disrupted — whether through natural disaster, geopolitical conflict in the Taiwan Strait, or export restrictions — countries with no alternative supply would face total compute cutoff. The concentration that creates efficiency also creates fragility, with asymmetric exposure between those who control the supply chain and those who depend on it.

Competition authorities are responding, though jurisdiction poses challenges. The US FTC's January 2025 review flagged three concerns: partnerships that affect compute and talent access, structures that increase switching costs, and arrangements giving cloud providers access to sensitive competitor information. No single authority can address a supply chain spanning four continents.

AI capacity concentrates where energy is cheap and abundant — creating a new geography of exclusion that maps onto existing global inequalities.