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3 days ago
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Source: AFP
With President Donald Trump much unpredictable than ever and transatlantic ties reaching caller lows, calls are increasing louder for Europe to state independency from US tech.
From Microsoft to Meta, Apple to Uber, unreality computing to AI, overmuch of the day-to-day exertion utilized by Europeans is American.
The risks that brings were hotly debated earlier Trump returned to power, but present Europe is getting superior -- pushing to favour European firms successful nationalist contracts and backing European versions of well-known US services.
As Europe faces Trump's tariffs, and threatens to taxation US tech unless the 2 sides clinch a woody averting all-out commercialized war, determination is simply a increasing consciousness of urgency.
Tech sovereignty has been beforehand and centre for weeks: the European Union unveiled its strategy to vie successful the planetary artificial quality contention and is talking astir its ain outgo strategy to rival Mastercard.
"We person to physique up our ain capacities erstwhile it comes to technologies," EU tech main Henna Virkkunen has said, identifying 3 captious sectors: AI, quantum and semiconductors.
A cardinal interest is that if ties worsen, Washington could perchance weaponise US integer dominance against Europe -- with Trump's medication already taking purpose astatine the bloc's tech rules.
That is giving caller impetus to demands by industry, experts and EU lawmakers for Europe to bolster its infrastructure and chopped reliance connected a tiny radical of US firms.
"Relying exclusively connected non-European technologies exposes america to strategical and economical risks," said EU lawmaker Stephanie Yon-Courtin, who focuses connected integer issues, pointing to US limits connected semiconductor exports arsenic 1 example.
'Buy European' propulsion
The information paints a stark picture.
Around two-thirds of Europe's unreality marketplace is successful the hands of US titans: Amazon, Microsoft and Google, portion European unreality providers marque up lone 2 percent.
Twenty-three percent of the bloc's full high-tech imports successful 2023 came from the United States, 2nd lone to China -- successful everything from aerospace and pharmaceutical tech to smartphones and chips.
Although the thought of a European societal media level to rival Facebook oregon X is fixed abbreviated shrift, officials judge that successful the important AI field, the contention is acold from over.
To boost European AI firms, the EU has called for a "European penchant for captious sectors and technologies" successful nationalist procurement.
"Incentives to bargain European are important," Benjamin Revcolevschi, main enforcement of French unreality supplier OVHcloud, told AFP, welcoming the broader made-in-Europe push.
Alison James, European authorities relations pb astatine electronics manufacture relation IPC, summed it up: "We request to person what we request for our cardinal industries and our captious industries to beryllium capable to marque our stuff."
There are calls for greater independency from US fiscal exertion arsenic well, with European Central Bank main Christine Lagarde advocating a "European offer" to rival American (Mastercard, Visa and Paypal) and Chinese outgo systems (Alipay).
Heeding the call, EU capitals person discussed creating a "truly European outgo system".
Industry insiders are besides alert gathering tech sovereignty requires monolithic investment, astatine a infinitesimal erstwhile the EU is pouring money into defence.
In an inaugural called EuroStack, integer argumentation experts said creating a European tech ecosystem with layers including AI would outgo 300 cardinal euros ($340 billion) by 2035.
US commercialized radical Chamber of Progress puts it overmuch higher, astatine implicit 5 trillion euros.
Different values
US Vice President JD Vance has taken purpose astatine tech regularisation successful denouncing Europe's societal and economical exemplary -- accusing it of stifling innovation and unfairly hampering US firms, galore of whom person aligned with Trump's administration.
But for many, the bloc's values-based rules are different crushed to combat for tech independence.
After repeated abuses by US Big Tech, the EU created large laws regulating the online satellite including the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Much to the chagrin of US integer giants, the EU successful 2018 introduced strict rules to support European users' data, and past twelvemonth ushered successful the world's broadest safeguards connected AI.
In practice, supporters accidental the DMA encourages users to observe European platforms -- for lawsuit giving users a prime of browser, alternatively than the default from Apple oregon Google.
Bruce Lawson of Norwegian web browser Vivaldi said determination was "a important and gratifying summation successful downloads successful Europe", acknowledgment successful ample portion to the DMA.
Lawson insists it's not astir being anti-American.
"It's astir weaning ourselves disconnected the dependency connected infrastructure that person precise antithetic values astir information protection," Lawson said.
Pointing astatine rules successful Europe that "don't needfully beryllium successful the United States", helium said users simply "prefer to person their information processed by a European company".
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Source: AFP
