Global Tech Stacks
Exporting Trusted Digital Systems in an Age of Strategic Competition
Kennedy addressing Tô Lâm, Vietnam’s National Leader, and his cabinet on digital policy in October, 2025.
The Architecture of Freedom Must Scale.
- The contest of the 21st century is not just over technology—but over the systems that govern it.
- Authoritarian regimes are exporting bundled digital ecosystems—integrated stacks of telecom, cloud, compute, and AI—designed to entrench surveillance, control, and dependency.
- In response, democracies must offer a compelling alternative: interoperable, transparent, secure, and values-aligned digital systems that nations want to adopt—not because they’re forced to, but because they can trust them.
“If the last century was defined by the Marshall Plan and Bretton Woods, the next will be defined by who builds and governs the world’s digital foundations.”
What’s at Stake
- Influence: Countries that control the stack control the future—of trade, communications, governance, and defense.
- Security: Vendor lock-in, data exfiltration, and opaque standards create vulnerabilities at scale.
- Economic Sovereignty: Emerging economies risk digital colonization without trusted alternatives.
- Allied Alignment: Democracies must be able to co-develop, deploy, and govern digital systems seamlessly across borders.
What Is a Global Tech Stack?
A tech stack refers to the full layer-cake of infrastructure and platforms that power digital services:
- Telecom Infrastructure: 5G, ORAN, fiber, satellites, subsea cables
- Cloud Platforms: Compute, storage, AI-ready services, sovereign data control
- Semiconductors: Chips and systems that power everything from cloud to edge
- AI Stack: Models, training data, ethical frameworks, inference platforms
- Software Standards: APIs, protocols, operating systems
- Governance Frameworks: Data protection, interoperability, export controls, trust audits
- Building global tech stacks isn’t about any one product—it’s about designing an entire system of systems that reflects democratic values and scales cooperation.
Insights & Engagements
🏛️ Engaging Administration or Congress, 📰 Op-Ed / Article / Quoted 🎙️ Podcast ✍️ Policy Brief / Blog Post 👥 Roundtable / Event 🎤 Speaking 🎥 TV/Video 🌐 Global
- 👥 🇻🇳 How AI Can Benefit Vietnam's Economy - Discussion with Central Theoretical Council - Hanoi, Vietnam - September 6, 2024
- 🎤 🇨🇦 Speech: Partnering on Technology, Trade and Energy - U.S. National Intelligence Council at Embassy of Canada - September 27, 2023
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