Vestager among backers of pitch to target EU's trade bazooka at frontier AI access
Former EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager is among a group of economists and experts calling for Europe to exert a stronger grip on the global AI supply chain in a new report.
The continent remains reliant on leading-edge AI models developed in the US or China. It’s also not building out computing infrastructure as fast as the two superpowers, despite a billions-heavy EU push to build AI gigafactories.
The experts want capitals to join an “alliance for supply chain security” to pool their leverage over AI supply chains – most prominently Dutch supplier ASML’s monopoly on leading chip-building machinery but also specialised manufacturers like Germany’s Zeiss for lenses.
The Hague, Berlin, Paris and other willing participants should formally set up this alliance by the end of the year, they suggest, to work on mapping their collective power and how they could wield it if needed.
