Why are data centers becoming strategic assets?

Data centers are becoming strategic assets because compute is becoming what oil once was. Countries and companies that control computing power, energy, and AI infrastructure gain decisive economic and geopolitical advantage. Follow the money: data center spending hit $400 billion in 2025, up 75% in 2026, and runs toward as much as $6.7 trillion by 2030. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta build them like nations once built ports, and I predict they flee to sea and orbit by 2030 to escape the backlash, the buckling grid, and the law. Data centers are no longer back-office plumbing. They are the factories of the intelligence economy. Access to them is becoming a question of national power, not an IT budget line.