Europe is talking about digital sovereignty. At the same time, a significant part of our technological future is being built on infrastructure that we do not own. This is no longer just an IT issue. It is an economic and strategic question.
We use American cloud infrastructure, work with American AI models and rely on the computing power of global hyperscalers. This is convenient, powerful and, in many cases, economically sensible.
But artificial intelligence is changing the significance of this technological dependency. AI will not simply be another technology that companies use. It is increasingly becoming part of the infrastructure on which value creation, innovation and competitiveness depend.
This raises a question for Europe that goes far beyond technology: How sovereign can we remain economically if key parts of our digital infrastructure are owned and controlled by others?
Whoever controls the AI infrastructure sets the rules
The debate around artificial intelligence often focuses on AI models, applications and new tools. But beneath all of this lies a much more fundamental layer: data centers, chips, cloud infrastructure, energy and data.
In 2025, the European Court of Auditors warned that the EU remains highly dependent on non-European providers for key technologies required for artificial intelligence. At the same time, the European Commission is pursuing plans for so-called AI Factories and AI Gigafactories to significantly expand Europe’s own computing capacity.
This makes one thing clear: Digital sovereignty in Europe is not determined by code alone. It is determined by infrastructure.
Those who control computing power, cloud systems, chips, energy and data infrastructure create the fundamental conditions for future digital value creation.
Technological dependency is not the problem itself
It would be a mistake to equate digital sovereignty with complete technological self-sufficiency.
No modern economy produces everything itself. International cooperation, global supply chains and specialization are fundamental drivers of prosperity.
Dependency becomes critical when there is no realistic alternative.
When a company ties its data, processes and increasingly even its decision-making to an infrastructure it neither controls nor can replace at short notice, technical convenience can turn into strategic dependency.
This is why business leaders should no longer ask only: Which AI solution is the best?
They should also ask: What dependencies are we creating with this decision for the years ahead?
Digital sovereignty means freedom of choice
For me, this is at the heart of a new European debate.
Digital sovereignty does not mean building walls around Europe or turning away from international technology companies. It means having genuine alternatives – and therefore freedom of choice.
This includes our own computing capacity, secure access to energy, control over sensitive data, as well as European AI models, cloud providers and infrastructure wherever they are strategically necessary.
Companies must be able to make conscious decisions about which parts of their digital value creation they are willing to place in the hands of others – and which parts they are not.
This is particularly relevant for Germany’s Mittelstand and European SMEs. Companies building their AI infrastructure today are not simply making an IT decision. They are defining part of their future value-creation architecture.
AI infrastructure is becoming a strategic location factor for Europe
Europe has spent a great deal of time discussing how artificial intelligence should be regulated. The next phase must focus more strongly on what AI infrastructure we want to build ourselves.
Because the future of AI will not be decided by algorithms alone. It will also be determined by data centers, energy grids, data spaces, cloud infrastructure and investment decisions.
Digital sovereignty is therefore becoming directly linked to Europe’s future competitiveness.
Digital sovereignty emerges when dependency is transformed back into freedom of choice.
Those who want to shape their technological future should not remain permanent tenants of the infrastructure on which their future value creation depends.
About the author
Christopher Peterka is the founder of the think tank gannaca and has been working with publicly documented foresight since 2002. His work focuses on technological, economic and societal change and its impact on companies and decision-makers.
