Unusual Whales: Epoch AI Says About 72% of the World's AI Compute Has Ended Up in the US
The US is pulling away in the AI compute race, per Epoch AI. Since 2022, about 72% of the world’s AI computing power has ended up in the US, and roughly 10% in China. The US share of new compute keeps climbing: 2022–2024: about 60% a year 2025: 72% First half of 2026: 78%
Context
If the figures are right, they describe a widening US lead in the physical capacity that trains and runs frontier models.
Unusual Whales posted that the US is pulling away in the AI compute race, according to Epoch AI. The post said that since 2022, about 72% of the world's AI computing power has ended up in the US, and roughly 10% in China, and that the US share of new compute keeps climbing. No official post from Epoch AI on these figures was found above the view floor, so this lead is secondhand.
Deep dive
Unusual Whales posted on November 12 that the US is pulling away in the AI compute race, according to Epoch AI. The post said that since 2022, about 72% of the world's AI computing power has ended up in the US, and roughly 10% in China.
It also gave a year by year picture of the US share of new compute: about 60% a year from 2022 through 2024, 72% in 2025, and 78% in the first half of 2026. That last figure, if accurate, would mean the US is now taking an even larger share of newly added capacity than of the installed base since 2022.
A search of the official Epoch AI account did not turn up a post above the view floor that states these figures, so the lead is secondhand through Unusual Whales. The numbers should be read as Epoch AI figures as reported in that post, not as a first hand release on this scan. The post also does not define how compute was measured, which countries sit in the remaining share, or whether the figures count training clusters, inference, or both.
What to expect next
Watch for Epoch AI to post the underlying data or paper in its own voice, which would let readers check definitions, time windows, and how China and other regions were counted. If the 78% figure for the first half of 2026 holds, later updates will show whether the US share of new compute keeps rising or levels off. Policy debates about export controls and domestic buildouts will likely use these numbers, so the first official tables matter.