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    Home » Should Europe wean itself off US tech?
    Technology

    Should Europe wean itself off US tech?

    morshediBy morshediAugust 18, 2025No Comments8 Mins Read
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    Should Europe wean itself off US tech?
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    Daniel Thomas

    Enterprise reporter, BBC Information

    Getty Images Rows of servers at a data centre in TexasGetty Pictures

    The massive American tech firms dominate the worldwide cloud-computing sector

    Think about if US President Donald Trump may flip a swap and switch off Europe’s web.

    It could sound far-fetched, loopy even. However it’s a state of affairs that has been severely mentioned in tech business and coverage circles in latest months, as tensions with Washington have escalated, and issues concerning the EU’s reliance on American know-how have come to the fore.

    On the root of those issues is the actual fact simply three US giants – Google, Microsoft and Amazon – provide 70% of Europe’s cloud-computing infrastructure, the scaffolding on which many on-line providers rely.

    And a few query whether or not an unpredictable US chief would weaponize the scenario if relations severely deteriorated – for instance, by ordering these firms to show off their providers in Europe.

    “Crucial information would turn into inaccessible, web sites would go darkish, and important state providers like hospital IT methods could be thrown into chaos,” says Robin Berjon, a digital governance specialist who advises EU policymakers.

    He believes that issues over a so referred to as US “kill swap” ought to be taken severely. “It is laborious to say how a lot bother we might be in.”

    Microsoft, Google and Amazon all say they provide “sovereign” cloud computing options that safeguard EU shoppers’ information, and would forestall such a state of affairs ever occurring. The BBC has contacted the US Treasury division for remark.

    In fact, there have all the time been issues concerning the lack of “digital sovereignty” in Europe, the place US corporations not solely dominate the cloud-computing market, but additionally {hardware}, satellite tv for pc web and now synthetic intelligence.

    Even the area’s fundamental cellular working methods – Apple and Android – and cost networks – Mastercard and Visa – are American.

    These fears grew to become pressing in Could when it emerged that Karim Khan, the highest prosecutor on the Netherlands-based Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC), had misplaced entry to his Microsoft Outlook electronic mail account after being sanctioned by the White Home.

    The ICC has issued arrest warrants for prime Israeli officers, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over their roles within the Israel-Gaza conflict – one thing Mr Trump referred to as “illegitimate”.

    Khan has since briefly stepped apart till a sexual misconduct probe towards him is concluded.

    Microsoft says that “at no level” did it stop or droop its providers to the ICC, though it was in contact with the ICC “throughout the process that resulted in the disconnection”.

    Robin Berjon Robin Berjon, a digital governance specialist, smiles at the camera as he sits at his computer in his home officeRobin Berjon

    Robin Berjon, a digital governance specialist, says Europe ought to take the danger of a US “kill swap” severely

    Since then digital sovereignty has shot up the agenda in Brussels, whereas some public our bodies are already searching for alternate options to US suppliers.

    However is it practical to assume they may wean themselves off US know-how?

    Digital sovereignty is loosely outlined as the flexibility of a governing physique to manage the information and know-how methods inside its borders.

    One downside confronted by these pursuing it’s the lack of comparable alternate options.

    Europe does have its personal suppliers, resembling France’s OVHCloud, or Germany’s Germany’s T-Methods or Delos, in cloud computing.

    However they account for a fraction of the market, and do not have the identical scale or vary of capabilities, says Dario Maisto, a senior analyst protecting digital sovereignty at international enterprise consultancy Forrester.

    Equally, open-source alternate options can be found for widespread software program packages like Workplace and Home windows, however whereas proponents say they’re extra clear and accessible, none is as complete or well-known.

    However whereas shifting to sovereign alternate options would not “occur in a single day”, it is a “fable” to assume it isn’t potential, says Mr Maisto.

    He notes that the German state of Schleswig-Holstein is presently within the strategy of phasing out Microsoft merchandise like Workplace 365 and Home windows in favour of open-source options resembling LibreOffice and Linux. Denmark’s Ministry for Digitalisation is piloting an analogous scheme.

    “We typically overvalue the function of proprietary software program in our organisations,” Mr Maisto says, declaring that for key providers like phrase processing and electronic mail, open-source options work simply nice.

    “The principle causes organisations do not use open supply are a lack of know-how and misplaced fears about cyber safety,” he provides.

    “Our prediction is within the subsequent 5 to 10 years, there will likely be an accelerated shift [to these solutions] due to this wake-up name.”

    Getty Images Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor
Getty Pictures

    ICC prosecutor Karim Khan misplaced entry to his Microsoft Outlook electronic mail account

    Benjamin Revcolevschi, boss of OVHCloud, tells the BBC that corporations like his are able to reply the sovereignty wants of private and non-private organisations in Europe.

    “Solely European cloud suppliers, whose headquarters are within the EU and with European governance, are in a position to supply immunity to non-European legal guidelines, to guard delicate and private information,” he says.

    However Microsoft, Amazon and Google say they already supply options that tackle issues about digital sovereignty, options which retailer information on severs within the shoppers’ nation or area, not within the US.

    Google tells the BBC that it additionally companions with trusted native EU suppliers like T-Methods, granting them management over the encryption of shopper information, and giving prospects “a technical veto over their information”. The German Military is considered one of its shoppers.

    In the meantime, Microsoft president Brad Smith has promised the agency would take authorized motion within the “exceedingly unlikely” occasion the US authorities ordered it to droop providers, and that it will embrace a clause in European contracts to that impact.

    “We are going to proceed to search for new methods to make sure the European Fee and our European prospects have the choices and assurances they should function with confidence,” a Microsoft spokesman advised the BBC.

    Zach Meyers, from the Brussels-based Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) assume tank, says it would make sense for Europe to develop its personal restricted sovereign cloud to guard important authorities information.

    However he provides that it is unrealistic to attempt to “get People out of the provision chain, or to make sure that there’s Europeans within the provide chain at every level”.

    He factors to Gaia X – a scheme launched in 2020 to create a European-based different to massive, centralised cloud platforms, which has confronted important criticism and delays.

    “Numerous these [tech] markets are winner takes all, so when you’re the primary mover it is actually laborious for anybody else to catch up.”

    As a substitute, Mr Meyers thinks Europe ought to deal with areas of know-how the place it would acquire an edge.

    “It could possibly be the economic use of AI, as a result of Europe already has a a lot greater, stronger industrial base than the US has,” he says. “Or the subsequent era of chipmaking gear, as a result of one of many few areas the place Europe has foothold is in photolithography – the machines that make the actually top-end chips.”

    Getty Images EU flags outside a European Commission building in BrusselsGetty Pictures

    Some say that the EU must shortly construct up its tech independence

    So the place does the digital sovereignty agenda go from right here?

    Some consider nothing will change except Europe brings in new rules that pressure regional organisations and governments to purchase native know-how. However in accordance with Mr Berjon, the EU has been dragging its toes.

    “There may be positively political curiosity, however it’s a query of turning it right into a shared technique.”

    Matthias Bauer, director on the European Centre for Worldwide Political Financial system, thinks the purpose ought to be build up Europe’s know-how sector so it could possibly compete with the US and China.

    In a report on EU competitiveness in 2024, Mario Draghi, former head of the European Central Financial institution, famous Europe is “severely lagging behind” in new applied sciences, and that “solely 4 of the world’s prime 50 tech firms are European”.

    “It is presently a lot more durable for a tech firm based mostly within the EU to scale throughout the bloc than it will be for a similar firm within the US,” Mr Bauer says.

    “You not solely face completely different languages, however completely different contract regulation, labour market legal guidelines, tax legal guidelines, and in addition completely different sector-specific regulation.”

    As for the speculation that President Trump may flip a “kill swap” and switch off Europe’s web, he is extremely sceptical.

    “It will be a sensible state of affairs if we had been near a conflict, however I do not see that on the horizon.”

    But Mr Maisto says organisations should take the danger severely, nevertheless distant.

    “Two years in the past, we did not assume we might be speaking about these matters in these phrases in 2025. Now organisations need to prepare for what may occur.”

    Learn extra international enterprise tales



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