Scientific Journal SPATIAL ECONOMICS - Architectural Agency in the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure: The Case of India

In the section	Articles
Title of the article	Architectural Agency in the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure: The Case of India
Pages	102-141
Author	Olga Valeryevna Ustyuzhantseva Candidate of Sciences (History), Senior Research Fellow, Department of Science and Innovation Studies Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO) 23 Profsoyuznaya St., Moscow, 117997, Russian Federation This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ORCID: 0000-0003-3023-5428
Abstract	This article proposes an analytical model for assessing the architectural subjectivity of countries within the global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The focus is on institutional mechanisms through which countries with limited technological resources can construct a position within this distributed infrastructure. Rather than approaching AI development through the lens of technological sovereignty, the study conceptualizes AI as a multilayered infrastructure shaped by institutional regimes of coupling and reproduction, rather than by direct control over individual components. Building on an architectural approach, the model distinguishes six infrastructural layers (hardware, compute, data, models and algorithms, competencies and human capital, normative-diplomatic) and applies three criteria of subjectivity (type of access, reproducibility, type of institutional operator). The research combines spatial and institutional analysis with a comparative review of policy strategies and infrastructural practices. The case of India demonstrates how a country lacking sovereign control over key technological nodes can nonetheless develop institutional forms of integration into the global AI infrastructure. The proposed model offers a tool for comparative analysis of national trajectories of AI development
Code	332.1+004.8(540)
JEL	O33, O38, R12, F02
DOI	https://dx.doi.org/10.14530/se.2025.3.102-141
Keywords	artificial intelligence, digital sovereignty, architectural agency, institutional integration, normative diplomacy, AI infrastructure, global value chains
Download	SE.2025.3.102-141.Ustyuzhantseva.pdf
For citation	Ustyuzhantseva O.V. Architectural Agency in the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure: The Case of India. Prostranstvennaya Ekonomika = Spatial Economics, 2025, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 102-141. https://dx.doi.org/10.14530/se.2025.3.102-141 (In Russian)
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Financing	This article was prepared with the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant for major scientific projects in priority areas of scientific and technological development No. 075152024551 ‘Global and Regional Centers of Power in the Emerging World Order’).
Submitted	12.05.2025
Approved after reviewing	08.07.2025
Accepted for publication	10.09.2025
Available online	30.09.2025