Questions and answers on the Technological Sovereignty Package

What is technological sovereignty?

Technological sovereignty refers to Europe's ability to develop, control and scale its critical technologies, infrastructure, services, and data – the elements that underpin our economy, security and society.

The Technological Sovereignty Package includes the Chips Act 2.0, the Cloud and AI Development Act, the Open Source Strategy and a Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in Energy.

It marks a decisive change in Europe's approach to technology, focusing on reducing dependencies by building up our own capacity.

Why does Europe need to be technologically sovereign?

Europe stands at a defining moment for its future, as technology is a key driver of productivity. Europe's strengths – from being the leading producer of machines for chip manufacturing to world-class research organisations and a strong base of open-source developers – are not being fully harnessed.

It is therefore time to strengthen Europe's global competitiveness in key digital technologies such as semiconductors, cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). The Technological Sovereignty Package is key in this regard.

By introducing initiatives to boost innovation, anticipate demand, and strengthen resilience, the Commission is supporting people and businesses at all levels, across all regions of the EU, helping to build a vibrant, comprehensive ecosystem.

Measures to strengthen technological sovereignty will play a crucial role in Europe's transition to becoming an AI continent.

What is in it for people?

A reliable future: Europeans deserve the confidence that their data are stored in a secure and trustworthy digital environment, with clear protection against unwanted transfers. By reducing structural dependencies and making sure Europe can develop, deploy and secure the technologies Europeans rely on, we are building a more secure and reliable future for ourselves.

Jobs: A European Union that builds its own technology ecosystem sustains a larger, deeper base of technical jobs – engineers, researchers, and infrastructure operators – rather than exporting them. This will create opportunities for people to train, find a job and pursue an exciting career in Europe's tech sector, and people will benefit from the spillover effects of these high-value-added jobs into other sectors of the European economy.

Public order and European values: An EU that is more resilient to risks and more competitive is also better positioned to defend its freedom, democracy, and the rule of law – core values that many citizens think best represent the EU.

What's in it for businesses?

For businesses across the EU, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, tech sovereignty directly translates to competitiveness, notably through digital transformation and productivity.

It goes hand in hand with other measures to allow European businesses to thrive, such as making our rulebook more agile through the digital omnibus, building EU Inc to make it easier to scale a business, and launching EU business wallets that will save companies time and money.

It also ensures companies can trust that digital technologies are secure and compliant with European rules, encouraging adoption. For investors, it means a more predictable business environment, offering more opportunities to invest in Europe's growth. Finally, large enterprises in regulated industries, such as banks, hospitals, defence contractors, and utilities have even more direct interest: EU alternatives reduce compliance complexity and legal risk considerably.

What's in it for governments?

Security: Relying on foreign infrastructure for military communications, critical national infrastructure, and public administration can undermine the sovereignty of EU Member States.

Governance: Modern regulation is only effective if regulators can audit, inspect and – where necessary – intervene in the systems they are tasked with overseeing. If those systems are opaque, operate under foreign law, or run on foreign infrastructure, the regulatory reach is fundamentally limited.

Setting standards: Whoever builds the technology infrastructure also shapes the standards. An EU with genuine tech capacity plays an active role in setting these standards.

Better public services: Governments that run their digital public infrastructure – health systems, tax, benefits, identity, and democratic processes – on sovereign platforms are more resilient, more trustworthy to citizens and less exposed to foreign interference.

Chips Act 2.0

What are chips or semiconductors, and why do they matter?

Semiconductor chips are the tiny but essential building blocks driving modern technology, and they are key to Europe becoming an AI continent. They power everything from smartphones and cars to AI and cloud computing, as well as critical infrastructure for healthcare, energy, and defence.

Chips are also a global industry crucial for growth in Europe. They are the third most traded product in the world, right after oil and vehicles. In 2025, the market was valued at around €595 billion and is expected to continue to grow, crossing the trillion-euro threshold by 2030, with AI-related components representing over 70% of the global semiconductor market.

However, without the ability to design, produce, or package advanced chips, the EU remains highly dependent on third countries and vulnerable to supply disruptions. Securing a stable supply of both mainstream and advanced chips is therefore necessary for the EU to ensure that critical infrastructure and technologies remain secure, resilient and aligned with European values. 

How will this support the semiconductor industry in Europe?

The Chips Act 2.0 will both reinforce current European strengths, including mainstream chips, and build capacity in cutting-edge semiconductor technologies. This will allow the EU to maintain its position as an indispensable player in the value chain, while strengthening its resilience, and reducing strategic dependencies and supply chain vulnerabilities.

The Chips Act 2.0 aims to:

1. Improve the framework conditions for investment and competitiveness;
2. Boost demand for European chips;
3. Strengthen capacity building across the value chain;
4. Improve resilience of the semiconductor value chain.

Cloud and AI Development Act

Why is cloud computing important for AI?

There is no AI without cloud computing. Training and refining AI models requires massive processing power, data storage, and network capacity – all provided by the cloud.

The EU is building AI Factories and Gigafactories – hubs with supercomputers, vast data resources, and training tools – to develop advanced AI. But these need cloud infrastructure to:

• Deploy AI systems quickly and at scale;
• Make AI accessible to businesses and individuals;
• Spread AI's benefits across the economy.

That is why the Cloud and AI Development Act aims to ensure that Europe has the cloud capacity to match its AI ambitions.

How does this support Europe's efforts to become an AI continent?

The Cloud and AI Development Act is a major step towards making Europe an AI continent by:

• Setting out a clear plan for cloud and AI leadership, outlining how the EU will develop and roll out cutting-edge cloud and AI technologies;
• Building more sustainable data centre capacity, aiming to reinforce the EU's data centre capacity, paving the way for businesses and governments to have the infrastructure they need by 2035;
• Boosting security and public investment, protecting critical applications while using public sector buying power to boost local innovation and resilience.

How will this benefit businesses and citizens?

The EU's cloud and AI market is growing fast – from €70 billion in 2022 to an expected €200 billion by 2028. These technologies boost productivity, improve public services, and change daily life. Yet their full potential is still not being fully realised.

Right now, Europe relies too much on non-EU providers, creating risks. Users – especially when handling sensitive data – want more transparency and trust. Many providers claim their services are “secure” or “sovereign”, but without a clear framework, these claims are misleading.

The Cloud and AI Development Act fixes this by:

• Defining EU cloud and AI sovereignty clearly – no more sovereign washing;
• Creating a simple framework to help users, especially those with high security needs, find and choose trusted EU services;

• Unlocking more digital growth in Europe and making local industry more competitive.

Digitisation and energy

What are the main elements of the Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector?

The need for increased computing capacities will lead to a consequent increase in energy needs for digitalisation, in particular for AI and data centres. These are driving up energy demand, with potential consequences for decarbonisation, prices and access to grids for all consumers.

The aim of the Strategic Roadmap on digitalisation and AI in the energy sector is to tap into the potential of digital and AI solutions while managing their impact on the energy system.

To do so, the roadmap is structured around three main pillars:

1. Integrating data centres into the energy system in a sustainable way, while creating an enabling environment to support their growth in the EU. Data centres account for 2.5% of the EU electricity consumption and their demand is expected to rise. This increase, combined with growing demand from the electrification of the economy, could hamper the integration of renewables into grids, create congestion and drive up electricity prices. Ensuring that data centres help stabilise power grids by adjusting their energy use when demand is high is therefore essential.
2. Accelerating digital and AI solutions in the energy system, with a focus on developing smart grids and smart metering systems to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs; using AI to improve grid management and forecasting; and building sovereign AI models for the energy sector.
3. Strengthening EU energy data exchange by establishing a comprehensive framework for cross-border data exchange.

Cross-cutting measures complement the pillars by addressing the need for trust in AI solutions, stronger cybersecurity of critical energy infrastructure, better and more tailored digital skills needed for the energy industry, and international cooperation.

More information is available in the Questions and Answers on the Strategic Roadmap.

EU Open Source Strategy

What is open source?

Open source software refers to software whose source code is made publicly available under licences that allow others to use, study, modify and share it. In practice, this means that organisations are not limited to using software as a ‘black box'. They can inspect how it works, improve it, adapt it to their needs and collaborate with others on its development.

Today, open source underpins much of the world's digital infrastructure, including operating systems, cloud technologies, web platforms and AI frameworks.

Open source is also a way of developing technology based on: collaboration, transparency, reuse, and interoperability, so different systems can work together.

What is the EU Open Source Strategy?

The EU Open Source Strategy will create the conditions for the European open source ecosystem to thrive, building on the huge pool of talent at its disposal – including more than three million developers and a growing number of successful business cases.

The Strategy will:

• Encourage wider adoption of existing open source solutions in public and private sectors;
• Support EU organisations in contributing to open source development as high-quality alternatives to non-EU proprietary solutions, which are owned and controlled by a single supplier;
• Strengthen Europe's open source ecosystem.

This includes measures to support open source businesses, address the security and long-term maintenance of open source, increase the EU's footprint in the governance of open source and promote digital skills in this area.

What benefits will the Strategy bring to consumers?

The most important benefit for consumers will be increased choice. Today, consumers often have limited options when it comes to choosing digital solutions, with most being non-EU proprietary solutions. In addition, consumers will benefit from the increased transparency and trustworthiness of the digital offering.

What benefits will the Strategy bring to businesses?

Open source is a strategic enabler for European competitiveness, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises. The Strategy aims to lower barriers to entry, reduce dependencies and promote the reuse of digital building blocks to help businesses reduce production costs. It also minimises user lock-in, giving businesses more choice. And it fosters collaborative innovation, enabling individual users, communities and companies to jointly develop, adapt, and secure technologies.

The Strategy also envisages measures to support open source businesses, in particular start-ups, to scale successfully by promoting adoption in the public and private sectors and access to practical tools such as digital business accelerators, mentoring, and legal guidance.

How is the Commission using open source?

The Commission will strengthen its use of open digital solutions through three key actions:

1. Building trusted, reusable digital assets;
2. Developing internal skills and communities;
3. Enhancing governance.

This shift moves the Commission from fragmented efforts to a unified open digital ecosystem, supporting long-term resilience and interoperability.

For more information

Press release

Factsheet

Questions and answers on Strategic Roadmap