Europe strives for tech sovereignty to have more leverage with foreign powers

Europe is focusing on acquiring tech sovereignty in a move to be less reliant on foreign powers and have more leverage in future negotiations.

The European Union will be investing billions of euros into projects that develop fundamental and core technologies.

“Europe’s digital sovereignty rests on three pillars: computing power, control by Europeans over their data, and secure connectivity,” a spokesperson for the European Commission said.

“To this end, Europe’s capability to design and produce the world’s most powerful processors must be increased, innovative European clouds that guarantee data safety need to be created, and governments, firms and citizens need to have access to high-speed and secure broadband networks.”

It primarily seeks to be less reliant on the US and China, powers from which it gets most of the key technologies such as semiconductors and equipment for its telecoms networks.

“Strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty is a key component of our digital strategy,” a spokesperson for the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, told CNBC. “Europe can play a leading role on the world stage when it comes to technology.”

The European Commission insists that tech sovereignty is not about “isolating” Europe but more about the region defending its strategic interests.

Companies like Cisco and Qualcomm in the US and Huawei and Foxconn in China are some of the companies which the EU has heavily relied on in the past to boost its internet network or to provide semiconductor chips.