Policy mistakes get expensive fast. One of the biggest is treating compliant cloud access in non-controlled countries as something to avoid instead of something to win. That mistake has a simple outcome. Huawei takes Southeast Asia’s cloud build-out and everything that comes with it: standards, software ecosystems, lock-in.
The United States should not hand the market to them.
The export rules already give the right path. They push advanced computing into auditable clouds outside controlled jurisdictions. In that setup, providers verify users, log access, enforce geofences, and cut off anyone who breaks the rules. That is real leverage. It is far better than sending high-end accelerators into environments where visibility is weak and recall is a fantasy.
The commercial picture is obvious. Regional data-center growth will pour tens of billions into power, cooling, networking, storage, orchestration and the software layers above them.
Whoever wins those contracts sets the default stack for the next decade. If U.S. hardware and platforms anchor that stack, American companies capture the fallout: developer tools, AI services, compliance products and financial infrastructure.
If the U.S. steps back, the ecosystem forms around someone else.
Many critics obsess over theoretical debates and ignore how cloud control works in practice. A well-run service does not rely on trust. It depends on verification. Serial-number audits. On-site inspections. Attested controls. The ability to revoke access the moment there is a breach.
Investigations and spot checks are routine. There is no evidence that something has gone wrong. When fears outrun facts, the only beneficiary is the competitor selling a clean and simple story.
Washington needs to align policy with the outcomes it wants to achieve, and four steps matter right now.
First, policymakers should state the intent plainly. Compliant cloud access in non-controlled countries is the channel U.S. rules are designed to permit. Making that explicit signals to allies and customers that they can adopt the U.S. technology stack without being dragged into regulatory confusion.
Second, compliance must become routine rather than bespoke. Standardizing reporting for inventory, logging and access controls creates predictability, something markets value far more than ad hoc improvisation.
Third, the government needs to fund the referees. Auditors require the right tools, adequate budgets and enough personnel to enforce the rules effectively. Strong, credible enforcement is far cheaper than ceding market share due to uncertainty.
Finally, Washington should back the companies implementing it. Supporting partnerships that pair U.S. silicon with allied data-center operators will matter far more than speeches. Scale and speed are what determine competitive advantage.
The alternative is not a neutral pause. It is being replaced by China. If the U.S. hesitates, Huawei and others will turn Southeast Asia’s open demand into their captive base. Undoing that later will be slow, expensive and maybe impossible.
Export control is not about freezing the world; it is about shaping it. In AI, that means more clouds running U.S. technology in places where rules can be enforced, and benefits can be measured in jobs, revenue and influence. Get that right, and the gains stack over time. Get it wrong, and you end up hearing about the market you lost on someone else’s earnings call.