Europe relies on cloud services, chips, and computing infrastructure that largely depend on non-European companies and value chains. With the explosion of artificial intelligence, this dependence has taken on strategic significance: controlling computing capacity, data, and infrastructure is no longer just a market issue, but one of economic and political resilience.
On September 8, the Council of the European Union’s Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society had among its working documents the Cloud and AI Development Act, the proposal presented by the Commission to strengthen the European cloud and AI ecosystem. The dossier is part of the broader Tech Sovereignty Package.
Sovereignty does not mean autarky
The European dilemma lies in reducing critical dependencies without isolating itself from a global technology market. Building more data centers and cloud capacity in Europe requires capital, energy, hardware, and skills; simply imposing a geographical preference does not automatically create a competitive alternative.
This is why industrial policy must work on multiple levels: investment, public demand, access to energy, procurement rules, interoperability, and the ability to scale European operators. Success will not be measured by the number of times the word sovereignty appears, but by the tangible opportunity for businesses and public administrations to choose competitive infrastructure.
