The EU sovereignty package aims to end reliance on foreign clouds, chips and AI
Three US cloud providers control 70pc of the European market. The Commission wants to change that.
The European Commission today (3 June) published its long-awaited Smart Sovereignty Package, a set of rules and strategies designed to cut the EU’s dependence on non-European suppliers across chips, cloud, AI and open source.
The headline topics are two new legislative proposals: the Chips Act 2.0 and the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), as well as the Open Source Strategy and the roadmap for digitizing the energy sector.
AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud currently make up about 70 percent of the European cloud market, and the US Cloud Act means that American authorities can force those providers to hand over data regardless of where it is stored.
CADA introduces a single EU-wide sovereign framework for cloud and AI, with stricter restrictions on non-EU providers applying to critical public sector workloads in areas such as healthcare, finance and justice. Private companies are not covered.
In chips, the updated action targets next-generation semiconductor capacity for AI workloads. AI-related components are expected to account for more than 70pc of the global semiconductor market by 2030, while Europe is still heavily dependent on third countries for advanced design and manufacturing.
The Chips Act 2.0 accelerates approvals, deepens partnerships and introduces a new quality label for European semiconductor regions.
Open source key
The Open Source Strategy looks to scale European-developed alternatives in cloud, AI, cybersecurity and semiconductors, drawing on a developer base of more than 3m across the continent. The strategy will:
- Encourage wider adoption of existing open source solutions in the public and private sectors;
- Support EU organizations in contributing to open source development as high-quality alternatives to non-EU proprietary solutions, owned and controlled by a single supplier;
- Strengthen the European open source ecosystem.
This includes measures to “support open source businesses, address the security and long-term maintenance of open source, increase the EU’s footprint in open source governance and promote digital skills in this area”.
“We live in a world where geopolitics and technology cannot be separated,” said Henna Virkkunen, senior vice president of Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. “Those who fight for technological innovation will shape the future – and we must ensure that Europe plays a leading role in this. Today’s package marks a major change in the way Europe approaches technological sovereignty. It is time for Europe to take control of its data, its supply chains, and its future in a clean and sustainable way.”
“We cannot rely on others for the technology that keeps our hospitals running, our electricity grids stable and our utilities secure,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “This is about protecting our citizens, protecting our interests and our choices. Europe has the talent, the research achievements, the industrial base and the Single Market. Together, we must turn these strengths into a technological empire.”
Both legislative proposals now need to clear the European Parliament and the Council before they can come into force. The Commission plans to launch the AI Gigafactories call in July and will start consultations with the European Equity Fund to support the broader ambitions of the package.
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