Overview
- The European Commission published its technological sovereignty package on Wednesday, including a Cloud and AI Development Act and a Chips Act 2.0, and sent the proposals to negotiations with member states and the European Parliament.
- Draft provisions would force mandatory non-price award criteria in sensitive public tenders that prioritize software and hardware developed in the EU, a move that could bar some U.S. hyperscalers from critical government contracts.
- The Commission sets concrete industrial targets such as tripling EU data‑centre capacity within five to seven years and lifting Europe’s semiconductor market share toward about 20% by 2030, with estimated investment needs in the tens to hundreds of billions of euros.
- Brussels frames the drive as risk management against laws like the U.S. Cloud Act and supply‑chain shocks, and a coalition of 13 European cloud providers and civil groups publicly backed the push for 'build European, buy European' procurement rules.
- Policy hurdles include securing approval from EU capitals and MEPs, bottlenecks in permitting, grid capacity and skilled labour, heavy reliance on private funding, and the risk of diplomatic or commercial pushback from the United States.