The rapid global expansion of AI infrastructure is expected to generate between 1.2 million and 5 million additional metric tons of electronic waste by 2030, according to a 2024 study in Nature Computational Science, compounding a crisis already hitting developing countries hardest. High-performance AI hardware such as GPUs and specialised servers typically becomes obsolete within two to five years, and much of the resulting waste is exported — often illegally or under the guise of donations — to countries like India, which already produces nearly 2 million tons of e-waste annually and receives roughly 70% of its electronic waste from abroad, primarily from the United States. The Basel Convention (a 1990s treaty barring rich nations from dumping hazardous waste on poorer ones) has proved difficult to enforce, leaving countries with large informal recycling sectors particularly exposed to the toxic health and environmental consequences of unsafe disposal practices such as open burning and acid baths.