EU unveils tech plan to cut reliance on Asia, US
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: The European Commission has unveiled a raft of plans to boost domestic technology supply chains and curb independence on Asia and the US for AI, cloud computing and semiconductors.
The numbers: US companies Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure account for 70% of the EU cloud market, according to a study commissioned by the European Parliament.
The EU wants to triple European data-centre capacity in the next five to seven years.
Under the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act, critical data would have to be stored on EU-owned cloud services.
The context: Storing critical information on European-owned services would protect information from overseas regulations, such as the US CLOUD Act, which allows law enforcement agencies in America to demand data from US tech servers, even if stored abroad.
US companies have already prepared for the “tech sovereignty” package. Google has set up cloud-computing venture S3NS with France’s Thales. Microsoft and Amazon have also launched their own “sovereign cloud” solutions in Europe.
The sources: European Commission, Politico, Bloomberg
