WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Edge Project, a coalition of two dozen domestic organizations, today launched the “U.S. – China Artificial Intelligence (AI) Leadership Scorecard.”
This new monthly scorecard highlights the latest and most important developments affecting each country’s AI competitiveness in the four areas that determine who will win the AI race: energy, compute, adoption, and talent.
The inaugural August 2026 edition, released today, finds China advanced its AI efforts more than the U.S. did during the month of July 2026. Overall, China won the compute and energy categories, while the two nations tied on adoption and talent.
“China won the month in AI because it is treating energy, compute, adoption and talent as parts of one national strategy,” said Doug Kelly, CEO of the American Edge Project. “To win, America needs a national strategy, not 50 conflicting state approaches. We created this scorecard to keep policymakers at all levels focused on what it takes to win: building more power and data centers, accelerating AI adoption and training American workers before China turns today’s momentum into lasting leadership.”
The full scorecard can be viewed here. Key findings from the August 2026 edition include:
- ENERGY: China wins. China continues to build power at a scale the U.S. is not matching, with installed generation capacity reaching four billion kilowatts and electricity demand growing three times faster than in the United States. Meanwhile, U.S. data center electricity demand is accelerating faster than new generation is coming online.
- COMPUTE: China wins. Chinese AI models continued to narrow the U.S. lead, China reclaimed the supercomputing title, and Beijing accelerated its push for domestically produced chips and compute power. U.S. progress was undercut by 172 active local restrictions on data-center development across 42 states.
- ADOPTION: Tie. The United States saw strong domestic momentum, with small-business AI adoption reaching 66 percent and the White House launching a $5 billion AI-for-science initiative. China expanded its global influence by recruiting 29 countries into a new Shanghai-based AI cooperation organization.
- TALENT: Tie. U.S. companies committed $265 million to expand skilled-trades training for the data-center boom, while China launched a new effort to steer a record graduating class toward AI-related jobs and continuous learning.
The scorecard also credits several American advances, including White House action requiring data center operators, rather than ratepayers, to fund the power and infrastructure their projects need; faster data center permitting on federal property, and $874 million in CHIPS Act funding for chip packaging, AI memory, and other critical components.
September’s scorecard will assess developments in August, including decisions on U.S. permitting reform, electricity expansion and AI adoption, as well as China’s continued efforts to expand its global AI ecosystem.
BACKGROUND:
The American Edge Project is a coalition of domestic organizations representing a cross-section of U.S. innovators who are dedicated to telling the story about technology’s positive influence on America’s economy and the vital role innovation plays in our society. Former New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, former U.S. Representative Chris Carney, and former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley A. Smith are directors of the American Edge Project. AEP’s National Security Advisory Board is comprised of Former White House Counterterrorism and Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend and former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Michael J. Morell. Former U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) serve as Co-Chairs of the Project’s Economic Advisory Board. Former U.S. Representative Greg Walden (R-OR) and Former U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) serve as Co-Chairs of the Project’s Open & Accessible Internet Advisory Board.
Visit AmericanEdgeProject.org for more information.