Etymology

electron gap

Today it means: The perceived superiority in the 21st century of the amount of affordable electricity available in China in comparison with such capacity in the United States, a gap that began to matter strategically in the mid-2020s as AI adoption in commerce and defense was accelerating. Full definition →

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The story

Modeled after missile gap and bomber gap, which held analogous mindshare in the 1950s.

First known use, by meaning

  • circa 2025 The perceived superiority in the 21st century of the amount of affordable electricity available in China in comparison with such capacity in the United States, a gap that began to matter strategically in the mid-2020s as AI adoption in commerce and defense was accelerating.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.