Wary of being vulnerable to the whims of foreign governments, the European Union is preparing far-reaching new moves to ditch American digital companies and Chinese chips in favour of European alternatives.
All the Ways Europe Is Ditching American Technology
A WIRED timeline shows how dozens of governments, companies, and other organizations across Europe are moving, or planning to shift, away from US Big Tech.
The EU Is Going Through a Trump-Fueled Breakup With Big Tech
France is already moving on from Zoom and Microsoft Teams in favor of homegrown alternatives. Other countries are quickly following suit.
Digital sovereignty can’t be bargained away
The European Commission has tools, public support and a mandate to act on Big Tech. Trading that away for short-term calm would be a costly mistake.
What is a “European Alternative” to X? – Open Future
European alternatives to Big Tech platforms must go beyond sovereignty—they need decentralized models, robust safety, and public funding.
EU Open Source Strategy | Shaping Europe’s digital future
The EU Open Source Strategy is a cornerstone of the Tech Sovereignty package, supporting open source ecosystems across the EU - encouraging the development and uptake of European alternatives.
What do Europeans want out of their EUDI Wallets New study sheds light - EU Digital Identity Wallet -
EU Digital Identity Wallets are set to launch at the end of 2026, with the EUDI ecosystem gearing up for the big moment. Issuers, service providers, wallet providers, and other members of the ecosystem, alongside the newest Large Scale Pilots, are hard at work fine-tuning wallets and testing use cases.
Digitalisation in Europe – 2025 edition - Interactive publications - Eurostat
Digital technologies are transforming the world we live and work in. They touch many different aspects of our lives, from everyday tasks like making phone calls and shopping to how businesses and public services operate. Digital transformation is one of the key priorities for the EU. The digital decade initiative sets out the EU targets that will guide digital transformation until 2030.
Digitalisation in Europe – 2025 edition - Interactive publications - Eurostat
Digital technologies are transforming the world we live and work in. They touch many different aspects of our lives, from everyday tasks like making phone calls and shopping to how businesses and public services operate. Digital transformation is one of the key priorities for the EU. The digital decade initiative sets out the EU targets that will guide digital transformation until 2030.
EU-AI | Igor L.
The geopolitical landscape is shifting from physical borders to digital infrastructure. Here is a factual breakdown of how a $500 billion investment in "Sovereign AI" is changing global power dynamics. The Shift: From Land to "Substrate" Historically, a nation’s power was defined by its territory and legal systems (the Westphalian model). Today, power is increasingly tied to the compute substrate—the physical hardware and energy required to run AI. 1. Infrastructural Enclosure The "Sovereign Compute Coalition" (SCC) represents a massive consolidation of power. Major private entities are acquiring the three pillars of modern national strength: * Hardware: High-end AI chips (e.g., Nvidia). * Energy: The massive power grids needed to fuel them. * Data Centers: The physical "brains" of the digital economy. 2. The Rise of Technocracy As private companies own these essential tools, governments may find themselves in a position where they effectively "rent" their ability to govern. This moves decision-making power away from elected officials and toward those who control AI infrastructure. 3. Europe’s Strategic Response Europe is launching several initiatives to avoid becoming a "client state" of foreign tech providers. The strategy focuses on four main channels: * 8ra Initiative: Building a decentralized, multi-provider cloud-edge architecture to ensure data remains under European control and interoperable across borders. * ReArm Europe: A strategic defense package (presented in March 2025) aimed at boosting industrial competitiveness and reducing strategic dependencies in technology and defense. * Sovereign LLMs: Developing domestic models, such as Mistral, that are designed to align with European data privacy standards and cultural values. * Energy & Procurement: Using public procurement and new regulatory frameworks to create demand for homegrown, sustainable energy-efficient compute solutions. The goal of these moves is #DigitalSovereignty : the ability for a region to control its own digital destiny without relying exclusively on transnational monopolies. Data tells the real story. Are you following it? Follow #datanomics
Shaping Europe’s digital future
The Digital Strategy website provides updates and resources on EU policies key to the digital transformation.
Anatomy of a Franco-German tech misfire
As Europe debates how far to go in pivoting away from US Big Tech, a cloud initiative provides a cautionary tale.
Commission proposes tech sovereignty package to strengthen Europe\'s digital autonomy and resilience
The European Commission today presented the European Technological Sovereignty Package, a set of measures to strengthen Europe\'s capacity in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and open source.
How to Avoid US-Based Digital Services—and Why You Might Want To
Amid growing concerns over Big Tech firms aligning with Trump administration policies, people are starting to move their digital lives to services based overseas. Here's what you need to know.
European strategic autonomy as a double-edged sword? US perspectives in an Era of Sino-American competition
As the United States seeks to prioritise ‘competition with China’, debates have emerged about how this affects US engagements elsewhere. Europe occupies a contested role in this discussion. Traditi...
Europe’s spies are learning to trust each other — thanks to Trump
Doubts over transatlantic intelligence-sharing is bringing European intelligence agencies closer together.
The EU Inc. Proposal: how far does it really go?
A post by Gillis Waelkens and Stéphanie De Smet (Clifford Chance)
