Europe unveils tech sovereignty package amid U.S. tech reliance concerns

5 1 minute read

The European Commission has proposed new rules to strengthen homegrown chips, AI, and cloud services in an effort to achieve tech sovereignty and reduce reliance on U.S. and Chinese products and services.

The proposals, subject to approval by all 27 member states, include measures to enhance advanced chip manufacturing and promote domestic cloud computing.

EU Considers Restricting Use of U.S. Cloud Platforms for Sensitive Government Data

Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, there are increasing calls for Europe to diversify its critical tech providers away from non-European entities, particularly U.S. tech giants dominating the European market.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized the need for technological self-reliance, stating, “We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable, and our services secure.”

The Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) is being introduced to address risks associated with the EU’s reliance on third countries for cloud computing services and establish an EU-wide framework for cloud computing sovereignty requirements for sensitive workloads at public organizations.

Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen highlighted the importance of ensuring that cloud providers of critical workloads do not have a “kill switch” and expressed concerns about the U.S. Cloud Act’s impact on data sovereignty.

CNBC previously reported on the EU’s consideration of rules to limit member governments’ use of U.S. cloud providers for handling sensitive data.