BRUSSELS (AP) — Concerned about excessive dependence on American technology companies for artificial intelligence and cloud services, along with Asian nations for semiconductor production, European Union officials are taking action to reduce these dependencies.
On Wednesday, the 27-member union announced a comprehensive “tech sovereignty” initiative designed to cultivate domestic European alternatives to major technology corporations and their hardware.
These initiatives from Brussels have become increasingly urgent as officials express concern about reliance on foreign technology providers, warning such dependencies could be used as weapons against European interests. These concerns became more concrete when the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, resulting in Microsoft terminating his email access and raising alarm about potential “kill switches” embedded in American technology services.
“Europe wants to be in the position to make its own choices, avoiding risky dependencies on single dominant suppliers, one company or one third country,” European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, who oversees tech sovereignty, told reporters in Brussels.
“Because we live in a world where geopolitics and technology go hand in hand. Those who champion technological innovation will shape the future, and we must ensure that Europe plays a leading role in this.”
Central to this initiative is an extension of the EU’s 2023 Chips Act, designed to further enhance domestic semiconductor manufacturing by reducing bureaucratic barriers for chip manufacturing facilities and developing a comprehensive European semiconductor industry.
Europe’s susceptibility to the global semiconductor supply chain concentrated in East Asia became apparent last year during a corporate dispute at Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chipmaker based in the Netherlands.
The initiative also emphasizes supporting domestic cloud computing and artificial intelligence development, including plans to increase Europe’s data center capacity threefold within the next five to seven years. The EU aims to expand these facilities to meet growing demands from the artificial intelligence surge, which is increasing the need for cloud computing infrastructure.
The executive branch’s proposals must still undergo review and approval by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
