Technical

Infrastructure

Compute and storage resources like HPC and cloud services.

How the laws define this

Regulators consistently treat infrastructure as the foundational support required to execute artificial intelligence research and development. However, these instruments diverge sharply regarding whether the concept is strictly technical or encompasses broader regulatory and human assets. The Plan Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial ("ArgenIA" / National Artificial Intelligence Plan) and the National Artificial Intelligence Document of the Islamic Republic of Iran restrict infrastructure to physical and cloud compute assets, such as high-performance computing, storage, data centers, and national hosting platforms. Conversely, the Artificial Intelligence Institute Establishment Council of Ministers Regulation No. 510/2022 expands the term well beyond hardware and platforms. It explicitly incorporates non-technological elements into infrastructure, defining it to include laws, a regulatory body, human resources, data, and a knowledge base alongside physical facilities required for a successful research program.

Synthesised from the 3 statutory definitions below. Each one is quoted in full, with its source.

How jurisdictions differ

What is distinctive in each definition, binding law in force first.

Jurisdiction	Instrument	Status	What is distinctive
Ethiopia	Artificial Intelligence Institute Establishment Council of Ministers Regulation No. 510/2022	In Force	Broadens infrastructure to encompass not only compute and storage but also laws, regulatory body, physical facilities, knowledge base, data, and human resources for AI research programs.
Argentina	National Artificial Intelligence Plan	Adopted	Specifies high-performance computing, cloud services, storage, and regional compute nodes to support AI research, development, scale-up, and access for SMEs and public deployments.
Iran	National Artificial Intelligence Document of the Islamic Republic of Iran	Adopted	Emphasizes foundational physical and cloud compute resources, data centers, and national platforms as a distinct coordinated layer for AI research and public-interest deployments.

Definitions (3)

Covers high‑performance computing, cloud services, storage and regional compute nodes required to support AI research, development and scale-up. The Plan advocates expanding national HPC capacity and interoperable cloud infrastructure to lower barriers for SMEs and public deployments.

Plan Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial ("ArgenIA" / National Artificial Intelligence Plan)Definition 1 of 3

the resources needed to run a successful artificial intelligence research program and covers, inter alias, laws, regulatory body, physical facilities, knowledge base, data, and human resources

Artificial Intelligence Institute Establishment Council of Ministers Regulation No. 510/2022Definition 2 of 3

The foundational physical and cloud compute resources, data centers, and national platforms that provide the computational capacity and hosting necessary for AI research, development, and public-interest deployments. The Document treats infrastructure as a distinct layer to be coordinated through national investment and shared services.

National Artificial Intelligence Document of the Islamic Republic of IranDefinition 3 of 3

Not to be confused with

AI R&D Infrastructure

AI R&D Infrastructure includes datasets and software alongside computational resources and platforms, whereas these definitions focus more narrowly on compute, storage, and related physical or policy elements.

Foundational infrastructure

Foundational infrastructure refers to core physical and virtual resources for both data and AI, while these definitions center specifically on compute capacity, hosting, and supporting elements for AI.

Sovereign AI Infrastructure

Sovereign AI Infrastructure highlights domestic capabilities for computing and data in AI R&D, unlike these broader or nationally coordinated definitions that may include policy, human resources, or public platforms.

Questions and answers

What does infrastructure include under Ethiopia's AI Institute regulation?

It covers resources needed for a successful AI research program, including laws, regulatory body, physical facilities, knowledge base, data, and human resources. This broad view goes beyond just compute and storage.

How does Argentina's National AI Plan define infrastructure?

It covers high-performance computing, cloud services, storage, and regional compute nodes to support AI research, development, scale-up, and lower barriers for SMEs and public deployments.

What is infrastructure in Iran's National AI Document?

It refers to foundational physical and cloud compute resources, data centers, and national platforms providing computational capacity and hosting for AI research, development, and public-interest deployments, treated as a distinct coordinated layer.