Publications

Growing opposition to data centers threatens U.S. economic growth, with $260 billion in canceled investments in 2026 potentially costing more than 2 million jobs and $294 billion in economic activity. Policymakers should address local concerns without discouraging responsible data center development.

China embraces innovation. America gets in its own way. Conflicting rulebooks and resistance to technological adoption are helping China win and America lose.

As AI demand drives memory chip prices to more than triple in 2026, Washington should resist short-term fixes that pick who gets scarce supply or deepen reliance on Chinese producers and instead expand U.S. memory production capacity for the long term.

The benefits of NGSO systems are likely even greater in other countries than they are in the United States. The United States should lead the way to maximize the benefits of NGSOs around the world and bring other countries along with it.

Policymakers should reject calls to intervene after the dismissal of Chegg’s and PMC’s antitrust lawsuits over Google’s AI-generated search summaries. Protecting businesses from the effects of technological change isn’t the same as promoting competition and innovation.

A recent study found that in 2025, 57 percent of the world’s top AI researchers received their undergraduate degrees in China, up from 46 percent in 2022.

For policymakers to bolster regional competitiveness in the global economy, they first must know where they stand. This report—coauthored by ITIF and the Institute for Competitiveness, India—benchmarks the 87 regions of India and the United States using 12 commonly available indicators of strength in the knowledge economy, globalization, and innovation capacity.

As smart glasses become more widespread, concerns about privacy and surveillance are prompting calls for bans and new regulations. Rather than imposing technology-specific restrictions, policymakers should use existing laws to address misuse and strengthen privacy protections through comprehensive federal legislation.

NIST should modernize the NVD by expanding automation, improving coordination with CISA, and adopting more reliable product‑identification and data‑ingestion systems that support machine‑speed defense.

At its core, the backlash against Flock has little to do with automated license plate readers. Instead, amid growing opposition to AI and federal law enforcement, Flock cameras have suffered from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.