The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled a technology sovereignty package designed to strengthen the EU's digital autonomy and resilience in areas including semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services and open‑source technologies.
What the package contains
According to the Commission, the package comprises four main elements:
- Two draft laws to promote European development in semiconductors and data centres.
- An open‑source strategy to support EU development and startups.
- A strategic roadmap for digitising the energy sector and applying AI.
Semiconductors: encouraging advanced chip production
One draft law builds on existing semiconductor rules to incentivise the development and manufacturing of cutting‑edge chip technologies in Europe. The European Commission notes that components related to AI could account for more than 70 percent of the global semiconductor market by 2030. The proposal foresees faster permitting procedures, support for strategic investments and measures to strengthen supply chain security.
Data centres: tripling capacity and improving sustainability
The other legislative proposal aims to triple Europe's data centre capacity within the next five to seven years. It would support the development of sustainable data centres and create a harmonised EU framework for assessing cloud and AI sovereignty. These measures are intended to meet growing computing needs and to support wider deployment of AI across Europe.
Open source and start‑up support
The Commission has developed a separate open‑source strategy. The document focuses on reinforcing European development capabilities, supporting start‑ups and improving the long‑term security and sustainability of digital infrastructures.
Digitising the energy sector
The energy sector roadmap intends to raise the efficiency of European energy systems through AI and other digital solutions. Planned measures include faster roll‑out of smart meters, modernisation of energy grids and coordinated development of energy and data centre infrastructures.
Next steps and implementation
Both draft laws must be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union before becoming binding. The European Commission also indicated that it expects to launch calls in July for the creation of so‑called AI gigafactories and will open consultations on establishing a European technology investment capacity.
Institutional moves toward autonomy
As part of the push for technological independence, the European Parliament announced that from June 4, 2026 the French‑developed search engine Qwant will be set as the default search service in the Parliament's Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox browsers. The change does not prevent users from selecting other search engines; a Parliament spokesperson described the measure as part of a broader strategy to reduce the institution's reliance on non‑European digital tools and to promote European services with strong data protection standards.
Why this matters
The package is intended to broaden the EU's digital policy toolkit by addressing supply chain vulnerabilities, the rapid spread of AI and rising computing demands. If enacted, the measures could increase the EU's technological resilience and reduce dependence on external suppliers for critical digital components.
Tags: data protection, European Union, technology, European Commission, artificial intelligence, European Parliament, digitalisation, data centre, browser, semiconductor industry
