Contributor(s): | From writing emails and generating art to reshaping industries, artificial intelligence is transforming daily life. But what powers artificial intelligence? And how stable is the infrastructure it's built on?

AI isn’t just software — it’s hardware, geopolitics, rare earth mining, and an energy-hungry race for dominance. As AI becomes more embedded in our lives, the need to understand its material foundations has never been more urgent.

In this video, we explore the fragile and often invisible supply chain behind AI, including the mining of rare earth metals, the role of GPUs and semiconductors, and the massive energy demands driving this new digital gold rush. From TSMC's advanced microchip manufacturing in Taiwan, to ASML’s one-of-a-kind EUV lithography machines in the Netherlands, and NVIDIA’s dominance in powering generative AI, we break down the six key stages behind today’s most powerful AI systems.

Dr Nils Peters explains why even a small disruption to this global network could have huge consequences — not just for big tech, but for all of us.