The European Commission on Wednesday announced a proposal to improve Europe's AI self-reliance and raise data centre capacity to 65GW within the next decade.
The sovereignty proposal would cut Europe's dependence on foreign technology as it seeks to catch up with the US. Among the commission's proposals is beefing up the cybersecurity of critical devices such as solar power installations. The proposal would include €200 billion ($232 billion) of private sector investment.
“We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “This is about protecting our citizens, defending our interests and making our own choices."
The Commission also announced the appointment of former Siemens chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe as special envoy for industrial AI.
“Those who champion technological innovation will shape the future, and we must ensure that Europe plays a leading role in this," European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkunnen said.
Non-Europeans excluded
For critical public contracts, companies will be required to ensure that software and hardware are made in the EU, excluding non-European countries from controlling data and services.
“Of course, this is not a very big part of our services but in very critical fields like defence for example, it is important that the technology is controlled by Europeans from Europe and also (that) data is staying here," Ms Virkkunen said.
The proposal also seeks to double the EU's global market share of semiconductors to 20 per cent by 2030 at an estimated cost of €120 billion.
Europe remains structurally reliant on non-EU providers for more than 80 per cent of its digital products, services, infrastructure and intellectual property.
“It is the result of decades of decisions: borrowing more than building; adopting faster than developing; and consuming more than creating, and this has to change," Ms Virkunnen said.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google are the world's three biggest cloud providers with a market share of more than 60 per cent.
The European Commission will launch consultations with member states, the EIB group, and financial stakeholders to increase private investment in new technologies.
“Expanding data centre capacity will require around €200 billion mostly from the private sector by 2036, plus another €100 billion for the full realisation of the Cloud and AI leadership initiatives, as well as the deployment of AI factories and gigafactories," the European Commission said.
Wednesday's proposals also include integrating digital infrastructure in Europe's energy system. Data centres currently account for around 2.5 per cent of EU electricity consumption, the commission said. Their installed capacity is expected to increase from approximately 12GW in 2025 to around 28GW by 2030.
“We want to build a new AI model for the energy sector that are trained on European data and developed by European companies," said Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen. “This is a matter of European technology sovereignty and of strategic autonomy."
The proposals will be negotiated with EU member states and the European Parliament in the coming months before they can become law.
Separately, European automotive, construction, metals, chemicals and transport sectors could lose up to 1.3 million jobs this year as a result of a surge in energy prices caused by the US-Iran conflict, according to Labour Commissioner Roxana Minzatu. “Our answer must be to strengthen our resilience from within," she said.
In a further signal of Europe's drive to reduce its reliance on US technologies, the European Parliament said it would switch to French search engine Qwant from Google.
“It is part of a larger framework of actions aimed at reducing European Parliament reliance on non-EU digital tools and promoting European-based, privacy-focused services," a Parliament representative said.
The change will be applied automatically, though users will still be able to select alternative search engines.
Agencies contributed to this report
