Corporations Backed by States and the Proxy Wars Driven by AI
A nation has traditionally been defined as an entity with territory, a population, a military, currency, and the right to conduct diplomacy. But that structure is quietly beginning to change.
Today, corporations are shouldering the roles of states—and beginning to surpass them. Leading tech giants like Big Tech and Tesla, backed by national governments, are wielding their financial power, computational resources, and information infrastructure to influence international society.
Corporations do not hold territory, but they control infrastructure. They do not have citizens, but they have users. They do not command armies, but they possess cyber capabilities and information dominance. They do not issue national currencies, but they have built their own economic spheres. They do not formally conduct diplomacy, but they negotiate across national borders.
In many ways, corporations are beginning to replace the traditional functions that states once held.
Moreover, corporations now receive direct energy and financial support from governments. As if endorsed by national policies to “use as much electricity as needed,” they are hoarding computational resources, developing AI, and expanding their power to control the very foundations of society.
The advancement of AI is accelerating this trend even further. Corporations that can control AI will dominate the information space. And those who dominate the information space will inevitably control the physical world.
The wars of the future will no longer be fought with military force.
We have entered an era of proxy wars between states, fought through corporations.
And ultimately, it may not be states that win—but corporations. States are becoming increasingly dependent on corporations, while corporations are beginning to use states as tools. And when the next dominant entity emerges, will we even be able to recognize it?