France Secures €100 Billion AI Pledges as US Export Controls Spur Europe’s Sovereignty Push
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Jun 26
France Secures €100 Billion AI Pledges as US Export Controls Spur Europe’s Sovereignty Push
1 articles · Updated · WIRED · Jun 26
Summary
More than €100 billion in AI infrastructure pledges has been lined up for France, led by SoftBank’s proposed €75 billion data-center investment under President Emmanuel Macron’s "Choose France" drive.
That push has gained urgency after the Trump administration briefly put Anthropic’s Claude Fable under strict export controls, reinforcing European fears that US providers can cut off access to critical AI models.
European groups are responding with cross-border alliances: Cohere is partnering with Germany’s Aleph Alpha and signed an MOU with Spain’s Indra, while Yann LeCun is backing Project Tapestry for an open foundation model.
Talent is also part of the sovereignty case, with European enrollment at US universities falling and founders arguing Trump-era policies could help pull top researchers back from American labs.
The broader challenge remains steep: Europe still trails far behind US funding and scale, but policymakers and startups now frame sovereign AI less as ambition than as a business necessity.
Should European firms choose sovereign AI over superior but politically vulnerable American models?
Will US tech protectionism accidentally reverse Europe's 'brain drain' and create a new AI talent hub?
Europe’s €100 Billion AI Sovereignty Push: How US Export Controls Sparked a New Era of Technological Independence
Overview
On June 12, 2026, the US Department of Commerce abruptly imposed export controls on Anthropic’s advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, following an executive order by President Trump that required national security vetting of top AI systems. The Bureau of Industry and Security’s decision meant that any foreign person, including Anthropic’s own foreign national employees, now needed an export license to access these models. This sudden move, triggered by security concerns after UK tests showed the models could exploit defenses, forced Anthropic to disable the models for all customers, exposing Europe’s heavy reliance on US technology and sparking urgent calls for AI sovereignty.