Europe weighs tech sovereignty as AI leaders meet in France

Europe’s push for technological sovereignty is set to dominate the G7 in Evian, France, and the VivaTech conference in Paris, as policymakers and executives assess the region’s dependence on American AI providers. The concern has sharpened after the United States tightened restrictions on Anthropic’s most advanced AI models for foreign nationals, highlighting the risk that political decisions abroad could affect Europe’s AI ambitions.

G7 nations are meeting executives from major AI companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google and Mistral to discuss competitiveness, regulation and reliance on China for critical minerals. In Paris, over 180,000 visitors, startups, investors, policymakers and executives including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos are expected at VivaTech, where geopolitics and policy are likely to feature alongside product discussions.

France has become a prominent advocate for replacing U.S. providers in government services and building domestic tools. The European Commission is also pursuing AI “gigafactories,” large-scale computing infrastructure and proposed laws to strengthen cloud, AI and semiconductor industries, though critics say Europe remains years behind U.S. rivals.

European firms still depend heavily on U.S.-controlled cloud infrastructure, chips and foundational models despite large investments. Capgemini’s Karine Brunet said European cloud alternatives require premiums of up to 40%, underscoring the cost of reducing exposure while maintaining access to global partners.