Europe is hastening its breakup with US tech as the Trump administration’s grip on American tech companies tightens.
The European Union is wasting no time in its effort to break up with American tech companies. Amid fears that President Trump will use American tech companies as the next lever he can pull to bend Europe to his will, the EU has put forth an ambitious new plan to bolster its tech companies.
The European Technological Sovereignty Package rolls up two major pieces of legislation aimed at addressing Europe’s biggest gaps in its domestic tech stack: cloud computing, and chip design and production.
The
Cloud and AI Development Act aims to triple data center capacity in Europe over the next five to seven years. It also defines a scale of four tiers of AI sovereignty that restricts the most sensitive data only to trusted EU partners.The
will accelerate the permitting process, reinforce supply chains, invest in research and development, and work to attract semiconductor investments.Chips Act 2.0
The proposal also includes plans to address one of the biggest hurdles the region will face trying to create homegrown replacements for American tech: sky-high energy prices. The proposal lays out plans to modernize the EU grid to prepare for more AI data centers, and build sovereign AI models focused on the energy sector. The plan also seeks to embrace open-source software as much as possible.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement:
“We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure. This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices. Europe has the talent, the research excellence, the industrial base and the Single Market. Together, we must turn these strengths into technological sovereignty.”