— We cannot afford to depend on others for the technologies that keep our hospitals running, our energy grids stable and our services secure, Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen says in a statement.
Standing up «equity at scale»
The new strategy «signals a new approach for Europe,» the Commission says. It hinges on four points, while cutting red tape for new deployments, research and manufacturing on all levels — and then the EU will start discussions on a financing model, with «equity capacity at scale» to finance these «ambitions.»
First is the Chips Act 2.0, intended to build capacity good enough for data centers and «AI applications,» where the USA currently hosts almost all the capacity. AI is expected to be 70% of the semiconductor market by 2030, and the EU is going to make direct investments to support its homegrown alternatives. They will «prioritize» building an advanced semiconductor foundry within the bloc, CNBC reports.
Tripling data centers
The Cloud and AI Development Act does much of the same when it comes to red tape, but puts emphasis on supporting research and innovation «while balancing climate commitments.» It aims to triple data center capacity during the next five to seven years, and reduce reliance on US services — especially for sensitive work, where they want to make sure «nobody has a kill switch,» Politico writes.
The third pillar is Open Source Software, seen as one of Europe’s strengths in the marketplace, having more than three million active developers in the area. The EU aims to scale up OSS alternatives across the board, and not just by deploying OpenOffice instead of MS Office, but through cloud, AI, cybersecurity and chips. The plan is to directly invest in this field as a strategic advantage.
Sovereign AI for the grid
Then comes the energy grid, with prices already under pressure from the current conflict in the Gulf. The EU Commission plans to ease the integration of digital tools such as smart meters, while preparing for large growth in data centers and AI factories. The plan is to «help build sovereign and secure AI models» for the energy grid, trained on «European data and made by European companies.» They will also ease cross-border energy transfers, their release says.
The Commission will be issuing a call for AI Gigafactory deployments as soon as next month, but these proposals have a while yet to go before they become law and official policy. They have to first get through debate and negotiations in the European Parliament, and then make the long slog through 27 member countries’ legislatures, before getting signed by all parties’ governments.
«Becoming an AI continent»
It remains to be seen what the plan will look like in its final form, and to see what kind of money the EU is going to put up to form «equity capacity at scale,» but when Europe decides something is strategically important, like «becoming an AI continent» they can sometimes take decisive action.
Read more: The Commissions proposal, EU Press report, CNBC, Politico .