Tech leaders call for EU sovereign infrastructure fund in “crisis” moment

Scores of European tech leaders have joined the call for the EU to become less reliant on overseas tech and pursue a strategy of independence, saying the bloc was in an “acute moment of crisis”. Aerospace giant Airbus, cloud storage firm Cubbit and lobby groups such as the European AI Forum and the European Startup Network are among the 100 or so signatories of an open letter to European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen.

Signatories of the letter have called on the EU to create a sovereign infrastructure fund to galvanise investment in tech across the bloc, as part of a series of demands. The issue of European tech independence is a hot-button issue, as the bloc plays catch up to the US and China.

The issue has become more pronounced amid faltering relations between the US and EU after a broadside by US vice president JD Vance, who questioned European values. The 2024 Draghi report highlighted that the EU needs more coordinated industrial policy, more rapid decisions and massive investment if it wants to keep pace economically with the US and China.

The open letter says:

"Europe needs to recover the initiative and become more technologically independent across all layers of its critical digital infrastructure: from logical Infrastructure - applications, platforms, media, AI frameworks and models - to physical infrastructure - chips, computing, storage and connectivity. 

"Europe’s current multiple dependencies create security and reliability risks, compromise our sovereignty and hurt our growth."

It adds:

"We call on your convening powers to mobilise industry to actively help coordinate and validate a continent-wide strategy to power a European digital sovereign effort. 

"To support Europe in this acute moment of crisis for our security and strategic autonomy, the Commission must urgently form and convene working groups with industry to transform its tech sovereignty ambition into concrete actions."

As well as a call for an EU sovereign infrastructure fund, the letter also calls for the EU to prioritise services with strong adoption projects, such as those in cybersecurity and prioritising “result-oriented projects”.

Signatories of the letter back the EuroStack initiative, which is championing EU digital sovereignty and calling for Europe to play a bigger role in digital supply chains.

The letter adds:

"Time is of the essence, and industry is prepared to invest if there are conditions for viable returns. Together we must create a reliable, open infrastructure which supports offering solutions that cannot be built in today’s captured digital economy. We stand ready to meet you to discuss this plan."