President Donald Trump’s executive order recasting “AI” as “SI,” or “super intelligence,” is already producing an unexpected market response: a sharp spike in demand for the .si domain.
The phenomenon echoes the early days of the artificial intelligence boom, when .ai domains—linked to Anguilla—became a hot commodity and generated millions for the island territory. This time, the spotlight has shifted to Slovenia, the country traditionally associated with .si and, somewhat ironically, the birthplace of First Lady Melania Trump.
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A Sudden Jump In Registrations
Registry SI, the official body overseeing Slovenia’s domains, said purchases of .si names rose 2,199% in September, according to comments from spokesperson Klara Herman reported by the BBC. She cautioned against attributing the entire surge solely to Trump’s order, but the timing is difficult to ignore.
The registry recorded 11,000 new .si addresses on September 30, the day after the executive order was signed, and nearly 13,000 new registrations in the preceding 24 hours.
Hosting Platforms See Mixed Signals
Not every platform is seeing the same level of activity. GoDaddy said it does not yet host the .si extension, while Squarespace had not responded at the time of publication. Wix said it had not observed any meaningful uptick, adding that growth on its platform had been minimal since September 29.
Hostinger, however, reported a pronounced increase. The company said .si has become its second most popular domain extension after .com, with roughly 4,300 registrations on September 30 and about 5,400 on October 1. More than three-quarters of all .si domains registered since September 23 were purchased in just the last two days, and more than half of buyers came from the U.S. and India.
Speculation, Branding And Digital Scarcity
Only about 3% of Hostinger’s .si registrations are explicitly tied to AI, the company said. Most are classified as unbranded or uncategorized, suggesting that buyers are using the extension for companies, personal brands, or speculative purposes.
That speculation is already visible among founders and brand owners. Kim Than, CEO of Genius PR, said he purchased the .si version of his company name to defend the brand in case the extension takes off the way .ai did. His reasoning was simple: securing the name now is far cheaper than buying it back later at a premium.
Than described domain names as digital collectibles and said some buyers are already viewing .si as a potential tradeable asset. He noted that domains can be tokenized and traded on blockchain platforms, though he is unsure whether .si is currently supported.
“A few founder friends are buying too cause we think it’s the new AI boom,” he said. “Who knows how far it goes, but I’m happy to take a bet.”
Why .si May Have Room To Run
The executive order itself may be helping validate the narrative. It states that today’s frontier systems do more than imitate or automate discrete aspects of human intelligence and increasingly represent “not merely artificial intelligence but a new super intelligence.” That language has given the .si extension a fresh identity, at least in the market’s imagination.
Klaudijus Januitis, head of domains at Hostinger, expects demand to keep rising. He does not see .si replacing .ai anytime soon, but he does see it as a cheaper, more available alternative for buyers who want exposure to the trend without paying premium .ai prices.
“Slovenia will not see what Anguilla saw,” Januitis said, pointing out that Anguilla charges a premium for .ai and that the revenue flows directly to the government. By contrast, .si remains inexpensive, and the proceeds go to the registry rather than the national treasury. On Hostinger, .si costs about $12 a year, compared with roughly $90 for .ai, which also requires a two-year commitment.
“For Anguilla, .ai became a second economy,” Januitis said. “For Slovenia, .si is a nice bonus.”
