Global tech giants have long loved doling out shock and awe – in the 21st century AI arms race there seemed no bigger example of that than last week’s $US500 billion ($795 billion) Stargate project announced by a newly installed US President Donald Trump after his first full day in office.

The joint venture between American companies OpenAI and Oracle and Japan’s biggest tech investor, Softbank, is to accelerate the build-out of AI data centre infrastructure in the US. It was hailed as a clear signal to the world that the US was serious about maintaining its lead over rival China for the critical technology.