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  "path": "/post/30745887",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-03T15:03:50.000Z",
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  "tags": [
    "Europe",
    "Babalugats",
    "1 comments",
    "https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/03/can-europe-rejoin-the-international-tech-race",
    "feddit.uk/post/50155510",
    "euronews.com/…/can-europe-rejoin-the-internationa…"
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  "textContent": "submitted by Babalugats to europe\n40 points | 1 comments\nhttps://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/03/can-europe-rejoin-the-international-tech-race\n\ncross-posted from: feddit.uk/post/50155510\n\n> > The EU is betting big on cloud computing and chips to reduce its technological dependence on the US and China, and to re-enter the global tech race. But whether it will succeed and how the two superpowers will react remain open questions.\n>>\n>> The European Commission has presented a sweeping tech sovereignty package to boost homegrown technologies and reduce dependency on American and Chinese companies. Whether it will make a meaningful difference — and how the two superpowers will react — remain open questions.\n>>\n>> “We live in a world where geopolitics and technology are inseparable. Those who champion technological innovation will shape the future, and we must ensure that Europe plays a leading role in this,” European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen said.\n>>\n>> The package seeks to boost Europe’s domestic tech sector, with a heavy focus on cloud infrastructure, AI services, open source and chips.\n>>\n>> The EU imports most of its tech services and products from abroad. The digital market is dominated by US giants such as Google, Microsoft and Apple, and Chinese conglomerates such as Alibaba and TikTok-owner ByteDance.\n>>\n>> In his landmark report on the languishing state of the European economy, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi argued that most of the recent divergence in GDP growth between the EU and the US could be explained by digital technologies.\n>>\n>> Having missed the first wave of the digital economy — the internet-driven services boom — Draghi warned that Europe’s last chance to rejoin the international tech race was not to be missed, namely the transformative potential of artificial intelligence.\n>>\n>> While growing dependency on foreign technologies had been widely known among European decision-makers for decades, US President Donald Trump’s assertive trade agenda and China’s willingness to weaponise such dependencies have provided fresh momentum.\n>>\n>> Will Brussels’ move be enough to shift the dial, or is it too little too late? And what will be the economic cost of severing deeply entrenched dependencies if the EU draws the ire of Washington and Beijing? What’s in the package?\n>>\n>> The main target of the European Commission’s proposal is the cloud sector, which provides the physical infrastructure underpinning most digital services. Amazon, Microsoft and Google account for 80% of the European market, with EU-based providers relegated to the margins.\n>>\n>> The draft law introduces four different levels of digital sovereignty that public authorities must consider when purchasing cloud services, depending on how sensitive the use case is.\n>>\n>> The highest tier, covering sectors such as defence and healthcare, would effectively bar non-European companies from winning public contracts. The aim is to prevent a so-called “kill switch” scenario, the risk that a foreign government might simply cut off access to hospitals or fighter jets.\n>>\n>> For MEP Axel Voss (EPP/Germany), the Commission’s approach is both bold and pragmatic. “Building genuine European cloud and AI sovereignty is overdue, and giving our providers a fair seat at the table in strategic public tenders is the right instinct,” he said.\n>>\n>> Europe also needs to catch up on chips — the fundamental components at the heart of almost every electronic device. The most advanced chips, used to develop cutting-edge AI technologies, are designed in the US and produced in Taiwan or South Korea.\n>>\n>> After the first Chips Act failed to significantly bring semiconductor factories back to Europe through state subsidies, the Commission is trying again — this time focusing on stimulating demand for European chips, on the assumption that supply will follow.\n>>\n>> Certain key sectors, such as automotive, will also be required to diversify their chip suppliers in certain circumstances, as part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on Chinese-subsidised producers accused of flooding the market through dumping. Will it be effective?\n>>\n>> The guiding principle of the initiative is AI — the transformative technology that, much like the internet before it, is reshaping the digital economy. Cloud data centres and chips provide the essential infrastructure for the next generation of AI.\n>>\n>> Yet the AI market is dominated by the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic and DeepSeek. A European preference in lucrative defence contracts could serve as a lifeline for Mistral AI, the only EU-based company at the cutting edge of the AI race.\n>>\n>> The EU lags significantly behind in data centre construction needed to meet expected demand for AI services in the coming years, held back by a mix of slow permitting, high energy costs and a scarcity of available land.\n>>\n>> “Europe cannot regulate its way out of technological dependency,” MEP Matthias Ecke (S&D/Germany) told reporters. “It must build its own capacity, overcoming one-sided dependencies and restoring a genuine choice for businesses and consumers alike.”\n>>\n>> At the same time, the EU is set to join a US-led initiative, Pax Silica, to secure chip supply chains, in recognition that Europe cannot do without Nvidia chips in the short term.\n>>\n>> That dependency could nonetheless prove self-perpetuating: regulators and rivals warn that Nvidia tends to build a closed ecosystem that is difficult to break away from.\n>>\n>> Continue Reading here - euronews.com/…/can-europe-rejoin-the-internationa…",
  "title": "EU launches major tech push to break US and China dependence"
}