The EU is stepping up its push for technological independence from the U.S. – The New York Times
The European Union has unveiled a comprehensive strategy to reduce its dependence on American technology companies. Officials in Brussels believe that the dominance of U.S. tech giants poses risks to Europe’s economic stability and geopolitical security.
Relations with the Donald Trump administration are becoming increasingly complicated, and the EU fears that the U.S. could use its technological advantage as a lever of pressure. This concerns artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and semiconductors.
At any moment, access to critical services could be blocked by the U.S.—this is referred to as an “emergency switch.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clearly outlined her position:
“We cannot afford to rely on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our power grids stable, and our services secure,” she stated.
The EU plans to intervene in the market to accelerate the construction of data centers.
Key points of the initiative:
- “Cloud and AI Act” – restrictions on U.S. companies in tenders for critical contracts.
- “Chips Act 2.0” – increased demand for European semiconductors for the automotive and defense industries.
- “Triple Growth”—the capacity of European data centers is set to triple by 2030.
- “Direct Investments” – the creation of a fund to acquire stakes in promising European startups.
Brussels will encourage businesses to buy their own. This includes support for domestic services and digital sovereignty.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer has already threatened Europe with sanctions in response to digital sovereignty. The U.S. considers this discrimination. The U.S. Computer Industry Association stated that the EU is limiting user choice.
Trump is demanding that a trade deal with the EU be finalized by July 4. Therefore, the European Parliament must vote on the digital package in mid-June.
Europe is currently almost entirely dependent on imports. Over 80% of digital products, services, and infrastructure in the EU are foreign. The cloud computing market is dominated by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. In the field of artificial intelligence, OpenAI and Anthropic from Silicon Valley are leading the way.
Europe finds itself in a trap: on one side is the technological might of the U.S., and on the other is China’s manufacturing power, the article states. In the first three months of the year alone, the trade deficit with China amounted to 145 billion euros.
Some changes are already underway. Recently, the EU Parliament took a symbolic step: the institution is officially abandoning the Google search engine. Instead, lawmakers will use the French service Qwant.
The new policy is intended to support European giants such as Germany’s SAP and France’s Mistral. France is already offering investors cheap nuclear energy for the construction of data centers.
This is reported in an article by The New York Times.
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