“Bomb Data Center”: Eric Schmidt Warns AI Arms Race Could Spark Global Conflict

Since Russia’s early 2022 invasion, the all-out war in Ukraine has claimed an estimated one million lives, if not more. Now, President Trump is pushing to broker a peace deal between the two nations in a bid to halt an exploding war cycle and prevent a broader escalation that could spiral into World War III elsewhere around the world. 

The world is fracturing into a bipolar state as a global artificial intelligence arms race intensifies, particularly between superpowers like the U.S. and China. President Trump has emphasized that securing hemispheric defense across North America is critical, whether building the ‘Golden Dome‘ or re-shoring critical supply chains, it’s all about preparing for a volatile period in the 2030s. 

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently gave a TED Talk, presenting a hypothetical scenario to highlight how geopolitical tensions could accelerate the AI arms race—especially between the U.S. and China. He warned that this race could escalate to include sabotage or even attacks on data centers in the event of a conflict.

Schmidt said that China’s open-source AI development—exemplified by DeepSeek’s breakthrough in efficiency—poses a strategic risk to the U.S., which currently favors closed, tightly controlled AI models. Because China shares its AI advances openly, the U.S. benefits from them but risks falling behind in a global open-source race.

Schmidt said this dynamic could escalate into a new kind of arms race, where the first country to achieve superintelligence gains irreversible dominance due to network effects. 

Schmidt warned that if one country falls even slightly ahead, the trailing side may resort to increasingly desperate actions—including sabotage or even preemptive strikes on data centers—to prevent being overtaken. 

Schmidt outlined the steps a nation might take if it began falling behind in the AI race:

So what am I going to do? The first thing I’m going to do is try to steal all your code. And you’ve prevented that because you’re good. And you were good.

Second, then I’m going to infiltrate you with humans. Well, you’ve got good protections against that. You know, we don’t have spies. So what do I do? I’m going to go in, and I’m going to change your model. I’m going to modify it. I’m going to actually screw you up to get me so I’m one day ahead of you.

What’s my next choice? Bomb your data center. Now do you think I’m insane? These conversations are occurring around nuclear opponents today in our world. There are legitimate people saying the only solution to this problem is preemption.

Schmidt draws parallels to Cold War-era nuclear deterrence, suggesting that today’s policymakers have not yet developed a framework to manage the geopolitical risks of hyper-AI development. Without such guardrails, the world could face destabilization by the 2030s. 

With Schmidt confirming that foreign policy and military circles are already discussing scenarios involving preemptive strikes on critical AI infrastructure—including data centers—Trump’s push for a hemispheric missile defense shield appears to make much more sense now. Relocating data centers deep into America’s Heartland isn’t just about access to cheap energy; it’s also a matter of geographic security, offering far greater protection than vulnerable West or East Coast locations.

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