Island Nation Earns '43 Billion' in Just Three Characters... Unexpected Luck

Riding the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom, there is a country unexpectedly earning significant income. The small island nation of Anguilla in the Caribbean, Central America, is the protagonist.

On the 22nd (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported that due to the AI boom, demand for Anguilla's country code domain '.ai' has increased, allowing the small island nation with a total population of only 16,000 to earn $32 million (about 43 billion KRW), which accounts for more than 10% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

The official website of the Anguilla government with the homepage address 'gov.ai'
[Photo by Anguilla Government Website Capture]

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Anguilla, which received the '.ai' domain during the early days of internet adoption when country-specific domains were assigned, has enjoyed unexpected fortune decades later as AI gained attention.

The Anguilla government charges fees to companies registering their website addresses with '.ai'. The registration fee per domain ranges from as low as $140 (190,000 KRW) to several thousand dollars, and domain addresses are sold through auctions. For example, Elon Musk’s Tesla CEO’s AI startup 'X.AI' must pay fees to Anguilla to use the '.ai' domain.

This unexpected income has become a significant support for the island’s economy, which relies on tourism. Anguilla suffered major damage from the 2017 hurricane and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic.

Anguilla Premier Alice Webster said, "Some people call this a windfall, but we just say that God is smiling upon us," and announced plans to use this income to improve airport facilities and double the budget for the sports sector. She also added that support was provided to citizens seeking medical treatment abroad.

Recently, global software companies have been leading the AI boom by promoting business innovation through generative AI technology. In particular, Nvidia has been the biggest beneficiary of the generative AI boom, with its stock price soaring more than sixfold over one year and four months, winning investors’ favor.

Experts say this AI boom is different from the dot-com bubble and predict that from next year, companies across all industries will flood the market utilizing AI.

The NYT reported that Anguilla expects to earn a similar amount of income from domain registrations this year as it did last year.

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