--- title: "EU tech sovereignty: what Brussels is building and what is left to you" url: "https://barbairians.com/blog/eu-tech-sovereignty-what-brussels-is-building" description: "Chips, AI compute, cloud and the right to take your data: the EU is building the European stack layer by layer. Policy moves in years; your contracts move in quarters." --- # EU tech sovereignty: what Brussels is building and what is left to you October 8, 2026·3 min read·BarbAIrianS European tech sovereignty is usually discussed in one of two tones: alarmed (“everything is American”) or celebratory (“Europe is back in the game”). Neither helps much if you run a company and have to decide this quarter where your data lives and what your models run on. What helps more is laying out what the EU is actually building — layer by layer — and where the part policy will do for you ends. ## Layer one: silicon At the bottom of the stack are semiconductors. The [European Chips Act](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/chips-act) has been in force since September 2023, and its goal is easy to remember: double the EU’s share of global semiconductor production from about 10% to 20% by 2030. According to the [Council of the EU](https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/eu-chips-act/), the programme is meant to mobilise €43 billion of public and private investment. For a small company this is the layer furthest from daily decisions. But it decides whether, a decade from now, the hardware to run models is available without queuing for a single supplier. ## Layer two: compute for AI Above that is compute. The [AI Continent Action Plan](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/ai-continent-action-plan) of April 2025 and the [InvestAI](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/eu-launches-investai-initiative-mobilise-eu200-billion-investment-artificial-intelligence) initiative aim to mobilise €200 billion for AI, including €20 billion for so-called AI gigafactories — sites with more than 100,000 advanced processors. Alongside them runs a network of smaller [AI factories](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/ai-factories) attached to European supercomputers, which startups and SMEs can also apply to use. This is the first layer that can genuinely touch a small company: as an alternative source of compute for training and fine-tuning models, outside the three biggest clouds. ## Layer three: cloud In June 2026 the Commission put forward a [proposal for a Cloud and AI Development Act](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/proposal-cloud-and-ai-development-act-cada). The aim: at least triple the EU’s data-centre capacity within five to seven years, speed up how fast they get built, and set up a framework for sovereign cloud services for the public sector. It is still a proposal working its way through the legislative process, not law. Worth following; not worth building a plan on today. ## Layer four: the right to take your data This layer already works — and for a small company it matters most. The [Data Act](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/data-act-explained) has applied since 12 September 2025. Switching cloud provider became a regulated process rather than a commercial courtesy. Until 12 January 2027 providers may still charge reduced switching and data-egress fees; from that day, charges for the switch itself are meant to disappear altogether. The Commission has also proposed, as part of the so-called Digital Omnibus, lighter rules in some areas, including for SMEs — check where that has landed before you rely on it. ## What none of these layers will do for you Industrial policy works in years and is counted in gigawatts. Your contracts renew every year and are counted in weeks of work. Between the two is a gap you have to close yourself: - **Data.** No regulation will build your own data layer. The Data Act gives you the right to leave; a usable export, relations included, is yours to test. - **Processes.** A European cloud will not help if your process lives inside a product that only runs at one vendor. - **Models.** Open weights on European infrastructure are a real option today — but someone in the company has to be able to choose them, test them and keep them running. ## What to do before 12 January 2027 That date is a good excuse for a clean-up. Go through your cloud contracts and note for each: what moving your data out costs today, how that changes after January, and whether you have ever tested the export. Ask your providers directly how they are implementing the switching rules. Europe’s tech sovereignty is a decade-long project. Yours is the set of decisions you can make this quarter. It is best when one supports the other — but you do not have to wait for the first to start on the second. _Status of rules and programmes as of October 2026. Details in this area change often — check the current text in the linked sources before you make a decision._ - EU - digital sovereignty - cloud - regulation ## Keep reading - [AI factories in Europe: who will own the tokens](https://barbairians.com/blog/ai-factories-in-europe-who-owns-the-tokens) - [The model contract: what not to sign with an AI vendor](https://barbairians.com/blog/the-model-contract-what-not-to-sign-with-an-ai-vendor)