America v China: Who controls Asia’s internet?

Nusajaya Tech Park looks like a normal construction project. Cranes and building materials sit scattered around this industrial site in Johor, Malaysia, located just 15km from the border with Singapore. But appearances are deceptive. Nusajaya is at the heart of the enormous data-centre boom that is taking place in one of the world economy’s fastest-growing regions. From here, you can see the digital war between America and China unfold before your eyes. For America, the view isn’t pretty. Even as it builds up its military presence in Asia, it risks falling behind in the digital contest.

The competition is being fought over the control and ownership of the data centres, undersea cables and wiring that together form the physical underpinnings of the internet. Since World War II, America has dominated communications infrastructure. But its grip has slipped. China has become far more technologically autonomous in the past decade, according to a composite index of “digital dependence” that assesses hardware, software and intellectual property put together by analysts Maximilian Mayer and Yen-Chi Lu.