What the US can learn from China's infrastructure boom

What do the US and China have in common? They’re both restless, ambitious, and addicted to growth. On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down how both countries are betting their futures on infrastructure. Over the last two decades, China has been on a building spree—everything from high-speed rail to mega dams, bridges, and airports. Entire cities from nothing. Meanwhile, the US infrastructure boom is digital. Companies like OpenAI and Google are spending record amounts on data centers, grid upgrades, and microchip supply chains, the technological highways that will power the next wave of AI.

But after the boom, often comes the bust. China’s experience can be both a roadmap and a warning. The results of its building spree have been astounding: more high-speed rail than the rest of the world combined, soaring GDP growth, hundreds of millions lifted into the middle class. But the People’s Republic is now dealing with a stagnating economy. Local governments that financed all that construction are drowning in debt. China bet on physical infrastructure. The US is gambling on digital. If AI doesn’t deliver on its promise, both could end up in the same place: buried under the weight of their own ambition.