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- EU reveals Chips Act 2.0, CADA and Open Source Software Strategy
- The aim is to reduce reliance on foreign hyperscalers and support the EU cloud sector
- CISPE worries there are still some loopholes that could allow US hyperscalers to continue operating
The European Commission has launched a major Tech Sovereignty Package designed to reduce the Union's dependence on foreign tech vendors, specifically targeting both American and Chinese firms.
Three separate initiatives form part of the package, including the EU Chips Act 2.0, the Cloud and AI Development Act and the EU Open Source Software Strategy.
Though anticipated, the changes come in response to criticism over Europe's reliance on foreign semiconductor manufacturers, cloud infrastructure providers, compute clouds and other software propositions.
Europe sets out plans to reduce reliance foreign tech vendors
First and foremost, the EU Chips Act 2.0 follows on from the earlier Chips Act, which mostly focused on semiconductors and manufacturing. Policymakers ultimately concluded it was ineffective at boosting chip production capacity and that the market is still dominated by US suppliers.
The new scheme includes plans to expand semiconductor R&D facilities, improve access to private investment and support pilot production lines, but more importantly, it inches ever so slightly closer to the Chinese state-backed way of working.
Separately, the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) addresses concerns that Europe still depends on non-European hyperscalers. The Commission wants to help expand compute resources, improve the availability and deployment of AI infrastructure and encourage investment in European cloud providers.
The third major announcement covers the EU Open Source Software Strategy, under which EU institutions could increase their use of open-source software (OSS) with new encouragement and promotion measures.
All in, the measures aim to build more technology capacity within Europe, to attract more investment and to create more jobs within the sector.
However, the measures have still failed to please some areas of the market. CISPE, the body that represents nearly 50 European cloud companies, argues that some of the changes need more definition and stricter enforcement. The body worries that some classifications are so low that non-European providers could be eligible to qualify. "The Act fails to ask buyers even to look at European alternatives," the organization stated, urging the EU to "close the loopholes that could be used to slip past the rules."
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