European leaders have intensified their pursuit of ‘sovereign’ AI through new public investments and partnerships, aiming to reduce their reliance on US tech giants. The European Commission has launched ambitious plans, including the construction of four ‘AI gigafactories’, supercomputers dedicated to training advanced AI models, made possible by a public-private consortium worth around EUR 20 billion. National governments are embracing the cause, with Emmanuel Macron having called the construction of AI infrastructure ‘a fight for sovereignty’, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended the digital autonomy of Europe’s largest economy.
EU programmes reinforce this strategy of technological sovereignty. The Digital Europe programme has earmarked EUR 1.3 billion for AI, cloud, and digital skills projects, while the STEP platform is mobilising over EUR 15 billion by redirecting European funds to strategic technologies. Additionally, initiatives such as Gaia-X aim to establish a European cloud, thereby reducing reliance on Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
In the private sector, the partnership between start-up Mistral AI and Nvidia to build a data centre equipped with 18,000 AI chips is an example of the development of homegrown alternatives. Nevertheless, the gap with the US remains significant: hyperscalers invest USD 10–15 billion a quarter in AI infrastructure, which far exceeds European capacity, leading to a constant need for initiatives in the field to gain ground.
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SubscribeWritten by Louis Napoletani, Founder & CEO of Mottli
