NVIDIA
The AI cloud war just crossed the Atlantic
Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, has been pushing the idea of “sovereign AI” since 2023, the belief that every country should build AI rooted in its own language, culture, and values. And now, Europe’s starting to take that seriously.
Last week, Huang toured London, Paris, and Berlin, announcing new projects and partnerships.
He also called out Europe’s over-reliance on U.S. tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, urging the region to act fast if it wants to stay competitive.
The good news for Europe? Governments are responding.
The UK pledged £1 billion to scale up its computing power.
France’s President Macron called AI a “fight for sovereignty.”
Germany’s leaders backed plans for a new Nvidia-powered AI cloud platform with Deutsche Telekom.
The EU also laid out a $20 billion plan to build four AI “gigafactories” and reduce dependence on outside players.
In brief:
Nvidia wants to stay essential, even if countries go local, they’ll still need its chips.
Mistral and Nvidia are building a European data centre with 18,000 AI chips.
EU’s $20B gigafactory plan faces challenges around cost and energy supply.
When in doubt, build a factory
Still, the path forward won’t be smooth.
Power costs are rising, and Europe’s smaller AI firms can’t match the budgets of U.S. hyperscalers.
Mistral, a French AI startup working with Nvidia, has raised just over $1 billion, peanuts compared to what big U.S. firms spend every quarter.
Even so, momentum is building.
With public investment, regional tech partnerships, and Nvidia’s chips in play, Europe is making moves to claim a bigger stake in the AI race.
Europe is building AI factories like it’s a Sims expansion pack.