How the EU plans to reduce its dependence on US technology

The European Union is putting the finishing touches on a sweeping technology strategy designed to curb the bloc’s dependence on US digital infrastructure and services. The forthcoming package, expected to be unveiled in early June, targets critical layers of the tech stack: cloud computing, data centres, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and software.

Rather than directly banning foreign providers, the European Commission aims to strengthen domestic capabilities, create alternatives and give national governments more tools to scrutinise strategic risks. As written in Facam.org’s analysis of how the EU plans to cut its dependence on US tech, Brussels increasingly sees technological reliance as a geopolitical vulnerability.

Why Brussels is pushing for tech sovereignty

According to a draft of the strategy, the Commission views deep reliance on a small number of non-European providers as a “strategic liability” in an era of geopolitical fragmentation and weaponised supply chains. Recent tensions in transatlantic trade, together with US laws that can compel technology companies to share data or suspend services, have amplified concerns about a potential “kill switch” over essential digital infrastructure in Europe.

The new package, which will sit alongside a separate law on cloud services, is intended to reduce these vulnerabilities without fully closing Europe’s markets. The draft explicitly links a stronger domestic technology base to the EU’s ability to stay open to global trade while still defending its interests and values.

1. Sovereignty checks on public sector cloud and data

One core element of the plan is a mechanism to push EU countries to review how dependent their public administrations are on foreign cloud providers and related digital services.

Under the proposal, national governments would need to assess key IT systems against EU sovereignty and resilience criteria. The goal is to identify where critical functions — such as health, transport, tax or security systems — might be exposed if a foreign provider were to suspend services, restrict access to data or become subject to extraterritorial rules.

Brussels would not prescribe exactly how member states should respond to any weaknesses they uncover. Instead, national authorities would decide whether to diversify suppliers, migrate workloads to European providers or redesign contracts to reduce lock-in. In practice, this could steer sensitive public contracts away from the largest US cloud platforms without an outright ban.

The catch is that the process stops short of mandatory remedies. Governments could, in theory, conclude that no adjustments are needed and keep their current mix of providers unchanged.

2. A revised chips law to scale up semiconductor capacity

The Commission also wants to upgrade its semiconductor policy. A draft revision of the EU Chips Act, adopted in 2023, shifts the focus from launching new initiatives to scaling up industrial capacity and shoring up resilience in supply chains.

The updated framework would support large, strategically important chip projects with:

• Faster and more predictable permitting procedures
• Easier access to public funding under EU state-aid rules
• Preferential access to pilot production lines and test facilities

The motivation is clear. The semiconductor shortages of recent years disrupted car manufacturing, healthcare equipment, energy systems and consumer electronics across Europe, underscoring how exposed the bloc is to bottlenecks in foreign supply.

Brussels now wants to encourage investment in advanced fabrication, design and packaging within the EU, but it recognises that factories will not be built unless there is clear demand. The revised law is therefore designed both to attract large industrial projects and to stimulate uptake of chips in strategic sectors, supporting a more complete value chain in Europe.

3. Leveraging open-source software to cut vendor lock-in

To tackle dependence on proprietary software and cloud platforms, the Commission plans a stronger push for open-source technologies — solutions whose source code is publicly available and can be inspected, modified and shared.

In the draft strategy, Brussels highlights several advantages of an open-source ecosystem: greater control over data and systems, easier switching between providers, reduced risk of long-term lock-in and the potential for local companies and public institutions to adapt solutions to their own needs.

The EU currently spends an estimated €264 billion per year on mostly proprietary IT solutions, much of it going to US-based vendors. The new package aims to rebalance this by:

• Raising the visibility of leading European open-source companies and projects
• Encouraging cross-border collaboration on the development and adoption of open-source tools
• Creating a dedicated “maintenance instrument” to fund the upkeep, security and long-term support of critical open-source components

This maintenance mechanism targets one of the open-source community’s biggest challenges: once projects become widely used, they need continuous investment in updates, security fixes and documentation. By helping to finance that work, the EU hopes to make homegrown solutions more stable and attractive for businesses and governments.

The open-source emphasis also links to broader debates around AI infrastructure and data governance. As discussed in independent commentary on EU efforts to cut its reliance on US technology providers, European policymakers see open ecosystems as a way to retain more control over the foundations of AI and cloud services.

4. Mobilising billions for data centres, AI and digital infrastructure

Delivering on these ambitions will require substantial financing. In its draft, the Commission outlines large investment needs across several areas:

• Approximately €200 billion to expand and modernise data centre capacity in the EU by 2036
• Roughly €2 billion for research and innovation specifically related to data centres
• About €20 billion in public and private funding to support digitalisation and artificial intelligence in the energy sector

Brussels expects most of this capital to come from private investors, with EU and national programmes playing a catalytic role. To make Europe’s digital infrastructure more attractive to long-term investment, the Commission plans to set up an EU-level promotion initiative that maps out projects, funding gaps and investment-readiness in a single, accessible place.

The draft refers to concepts such as “semiconductor regions of excellence” and “data centre acceleration zones”, which would signal where regulatory support, infrastructure and skills are concentrated. By clustering investment and expertise geographically, the EU hopes to build globally competitive hubs in key technologies.

Limited ambition or quiet reset?

The emerging strategy does not seek to shut out American technology across the board. Instead, it is designed to lower the EU’s exposure to concentrated foreign suppliers in areas considered strategic, while boosting domestic capabilities and giving governments more room to manoeuvre.

Critics may argue that leaving implementation largely to national capitals — and relying heavily on yet-to-be-secured investment — could limit the package’s impact. Still, the direction of travel is clear: Europe wants more say over the digital infrastructure and software on which its economy, public services and security increasingly depend.