A US Tech Detox Offers a $264 Billion Opportunity for the EU
Europe needs more tech sovereignty initiatives like the data center built by Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia in Munich.
Photograph: Deutsche Telekom AG
While Elon Musk sets his sights on the moon, the European Union he detests is going for a more terrestrial target: Cutting its deep dependence on American tech billionaires. But getting there will need more than inspiring speeches at Davos or diminishing the red tape cherished by regulators in Brussels.
New initiatives like Deutsche Telekom AG’s €1 billion ($1.2 billion) data center in Munich have become all the more urgent after Trumpian threats to take over Greenland, US pressure to water down EU tech regulation and Musk’s own nose-thumbing at outrage over his Grok AI chatbot’s sexual deepfakes. Social-media bans and probes are proliferating, with popular anger delivering a dose of courage for European politicians who’ve been warned by Donald Trump to be “very careful” over slapping tech broligarchs with fines. Musk’s fury is palpable; he called Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez a “tyrant” for banning under-16s from social media.