A letter dated March 14, signed by Airbus, Dassault Systemes, and over 90 other European technology companies and lobby groups, has been sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In the letter, they call for the creation of a sovereign infrastructure fund to boost public investments in cutting-edge technologies. The signatories argue that recent developments in the U.S. and the EU, along with measures taken by the U.S., highlight the necessity for Europe to take action to safeguard its strategic autonomy in crucial sectors.
The letter emphasizes the need for Europe to proactively enhance its technological independence in all aspects of its critical digital infrastructure, spanning from logical infrastructure like applications, platforms, media, AI frameworks, and models, to physical infrastructure such as chips, computing, storage, and connectivity. The signatories believe that Europe’s current reliance on multiple external sources poses security and reliability risks, compromises sovereignty, and hinders growth.
The signatories stress the importance of a sovereign infrastructure fund to finance this ambitious objective, especially in the capital-intensive segments of the value chain like quantum technologies and chips. They also suggest that governments implement a “buy European” policy in procurement tenders to stimulate demand and incentivize businesses to invest. The letter clarifies that the intention is not to exclude non-European competitors but to provide a platform where European suppliers can compete fairly and attract investment.
Notable signatories to the letter include OVH Cloud, a French cloud services provider, as well as similar companies from other EU nations, the European Software Institute, European Startup Network, German AI Association, the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), and French public investment bank BPI France. The letter was also directed to EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen.
