Europe is scrambling to reduce its exposure to American cloud, chips, and platforms before a geopolitical shock turns dependence into vulnerability. The effort is no longer a slow moving industrial policy project but a race to build homegrown infrastructure that can keep the continent’s economy running even if access to US technology is curtailed. At stake is whether a market worth over €5 trillion can keep control of its own data, networks, and artificial intelligence.
Policymakers now talk about digital sovereignty in the same breath as energy security or defense, and they are backing that rhetoric with new laws, funding, and standards. Yet the structural dominance of US hyperscalers, the cost of building alternatives, and the risk of fragmentation mean Europe’s break from American infrastructure will be partial at best in the near term.
The nightmare scenario behind Europe’s tech rethink
European officials are increasingly gaming out what would happen if the United States abruptly restricted access to key technologies, from cloud platforms to advanced chips. Strategic planners describe a nightmare in which a political clash leads Washington to weaponize its control over core services, cutting off or throttling European customers that rely on American providers for everything from government workloads to industrial software, a fear sharpened by scenarios in which the US might even consider moves like taking Greenland by force, as referenced in one place profile. In that context, the idea that Europe’s digital backbone effectively runs on foreign infrastructure has shifted from a commercial concern to a security liability.
Reports on how Europe is preparing for a potential US tech cutoff describe officials modeling disruptions to cloud access, software updates, and semiconductor supply. A companion analysis of the same scenario underlines that the concern is not abstract, tying it to rising tensions with the current US administration and the possibility that American export controls or sanctions could be extended to allies in a crisis, a risk echoed in a second Quick summary. I see that fear driving a shift from incremental regulation of Big Tech to a more fundamental question: can Europe keep its economy running if the digital tap from the US is turned off.
From dependence to “Eurostack”
The scale of Europe’s reliance on foreign providers is stark. Citing reliance on non‑EU vendors for more than 80% of digital infrastructure, the European Parliament has called for a coordinated “Eurostack” that would span cloud, networks, and software. That figure captures how deeply embedded US hyperscalers are in everything from banking systems to health records, and why lawmakers now frame the issue as one of resilience rather than just competition. In their vision, Eurostack would be a layered architecture of European data centers, connectivity, and platforms that can interoperate with global services but are not hostage to them.
The concept has moved from think tank whiteboards into concrete policy. One detailed proposal describes EuroStack as a full stack alternative to US hyperscalers, stretching from physical networks and cloud infrastructure to software and artificial intelligence. Another account of how Europe wants to break up with US tech explains that EU leaders see Eurostack as the backbone of their own “digital sovereignty,” with rules and funding designed to steer public and private workloads onto European infrastructure. I read this as an attempt not to wall off the continent, but to ensure that if US providers become unreliable partners, there is a credible plan B.
Legislating sovereignty: cloud, AI and cyber rules
To turn that ambition into reality, Brussels is rolling out a dense package of laws that target the plumbing of the digital economy. A wave of EU legislation is being prepared to reshape cloud services, data centers, semiconductors, and quantum technologies, with the explicit goal of curbing dependence on US technology. In parallel, EU lawmakers are pushing for digital sovereignty, arguing that the geopolitical landscape has changed and that a European economy valued at over €5 trillion cannot afford to outsource control of its data and algorithms.
One centerpiece is the proposed EU Cloud and AI, which the Commissio presented as a way to set common rules for cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence services across the bloc. The initiative, described in detail under sections labeled Updates, Compliance and What, is meant to create a single market for trusted cloud and AI, with certification schemes that favor providers meeting strict European standards on data control and security. At the same time, new cyber rules are being drafted that explicitly target risky vendors from both China and the US, with Proposed legislation seeking to reduce dependency on suppliers that hold a near monopoly over satellite communication and other critical systems. As By Ieva Ilves notes in that analysis, the ambition is high, but implementation will test how far Europe is willing to go in constraining the very companies that currently keep its networks running.
National pushes and the “year of EU cloud sovereignty”
Brussels is not acting alone. National governments are layering their own initiatives on top of EU frameworks, sometimes racing ahead of the consensus. France has launched a high profile bid to cut Europe’s tech dependence, with officials highlighting work on a Digital Resilience Index that is expected to deliver its first results in early 202, a metric designed to quantify how exposed critical sectors are to foreign technology. That same initiative underscores how divisive the sovereignty agenda remains at EU level, with some member states wary of measures that might antagonize Washington or raise costs for domestic firms.
Within EU institutions, insiders have started to brand 2026 as the year of EU cloud sovereignty, arguing that trust in digital infrastructure now requires a clear framework for who controls data and where it is stored. One detailed analysis of 2026 stresses that the bloc remains heavily dependent on US hyperscalers for critical digital infrastructure, and that EU institutions are now trying to rebalance control over cloud infrastructure and data. A separate forecast on More investment in European cloud infrastructure predicts that the European Union will strengthen its digital sovereignty in the coming year, with Experts expecting a surge of funding into regional data centers and sovereign cloud offerings. I see these moves as Europe’s attempt to turn a political slogan into measurable infrastructure build out.
The economic reality check
For all the political momentum, the economics of decoupling from US tech are unforgiving. Analysts behind Europe’s Digital Sovereignty Dilemma argue that full independence from US cloud dominance is unlikely, at least in the medium term, because European providers struggle to match the scale and unit prices of American hyperscalers. That assessment, framed under the question Can the Continent Break Free from Cloud Dominance in the Introduction of that analysis, suggests that Europe will have to live with a hybrid model in which sensitive workloads move to sovereign infrastructure while cost sensitive services remain on global platforms.
Market researchers are even more blunt. One forecast on Europe’s 2026 sovereignty goals notes that Here is what European business, technology, and marketing leaders should expect in 2026: No European enterprise will shift entirely away from US hyperscalers in the short term. A separate assessment of why EU cloud sovereignty remains unrealistic in 2026 argues that Economic constraints will continue to prevent European companies from pursuing technological independence more strongly in the coming year, despite intensive efforts to reduce reliance in the short to medium term. In my view, that tension between strategic urgency and financial reality will define how far and how fast Europe can move.
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