European Union Launches AI Action Plan to Reduce US Tech Dependency

The European Union and various European governments are accelerating investments in emerging technologies to reduce their dependency on non-European providers, primarily those based in the United States. As part of this strategy, the EU launched the AI continent action plan to establish the region as a global leader in artificial intelligence.

To support these ambitions, the EU established the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, which launched several AI factories in 2025. These facilities provide free compute power to startups and small-to-medium enterprises. Complementary efforts include the Language Data Space and the Alliance for Language Technologies European Digital Infrastructure Consortium, which focus on collecting multilingual data to ensure European cultural and linguistic diversity is represented in AI models.

In early May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen introduced the Choose Europe for Science drive, aiming to attract international research talent by offering grants and reducing bureaucracy. Parallel to these EU-wide initiatives, the Government of the United Kingdom has implemented its own AI Opportunities Action Plan to advance its domestic technological capabilities.