Europe Must Build Its Own AI Capacity or Risk Foreign Leverage

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has warned that Europe cannot rely solely on imported artificial intelligence (AI) from the United States and must develop its own capacity. Speaking in Vienna, she stated that AI is different from past technologies because a withdrawal of access or change in terms would have far-reaching consequences for every sector.

Lagarde emphasized that Europe's first priority should be expanding its computing infrastructure. The E.U. currently lacks sufficient data center capacity to meet existing demand, and on current trends, this gap is projected to grow more than sixfold within a decade, requiring an investment of up to €600 billion over ten years.

To address this, the European Commission has taken steps such as unveiling legislation that restricts sensitive government cloud contracts to providers meeting European sovereignty standards. The E.U. also launched a roughly €30 billion tender for up to seven AI gigafactories across Europe, pairing public funding with private investment.