US AI Infrastructure: A Strategic Bottleneck for Allies
The Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission is assembling exascale-class AI and supercomputing systems to power next-generation energy research, climate modeling, materials discovery, and defense-relevant applications. Technically these systems can support international teams, yet AUKUS partners are effectively excluded by policy. This is not a capacity shortfall. It is a rules problem: current agreements and legal authorities limit foreign researcher access to DOE facilities and data, even where joint work would accelerate mutual goals in quantum computing, autonomous systems, and low-carbon grid technologies.
The Strategic Cost of Fragmentation
Locking allies out forces duplicated investments, slows deployment of shared tools for resilience and decarbonization, and fragments talent and data pools that would otherwise drive faster breakthroughs. In a period of intense global competition for AI and quantum advantage, a fragmented approach erodes collective leverage. For the energy sector this means slower advancements in grid optimization, longer timelines to integrate distributed resources, and missed opportunities to field-test autonomous control systems at scale with allied operators.
A Path to Integrated Innovation
The immediate, practical step is to extend Cooperative Research and Development Agreement authorities and related access rules to vetted AUKUS partners. CRADAs already provide mechanisms for intellectual property management, export control compliance, and security vetting. Adapting those frameworks to allow reciprocal access, joint user facilities, and pilot programs would preserve safeguards while enabling collaborative research on energy-critical AI workloads.
Operational steps include: standing joint review boards for sensitive projects, accredited research nodes in partner countries with secure tunnels to Genesis systems, and time-bound pilot CRADAs for energy-sector priorities. Doing this early embeds allies in development cycles, aligns standards, and reduces wasted spending.
Action is time sensitive. Global competitors are scaling integrated ecosystems now. For the energy sector and allied security, granting responsible access to US AI infrastructure is a policy change with outsized return on scientific, economic, and strategic investment.
