Source: European Parliament
The decision by the United-States (US) to impose export restrictions on advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips and the categorisation of Member States into different tiers goes against the core principles of the EU’s single market and technological sovereignty.
While a detailed assessment of the impact of those measures on the EU is ongoing, the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy and the Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security already voiced their concerns to the US administration in a Joint Statement[1].
Europe aims to be among the global leaders in AI and is taking concrete steps in this direction. The Chips Joint Undertaking[2] has launched research and innovation calls on AI chips. The EU’s AI factories initiative and the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking[3] play a key role in this respect.
To accelerate the development of the EU’s domestic AI capabilities, the Commission has recently announced the new InvestAI initiative, which aims to mobilise EUR 200 billion for AI investments. In parallel, it is crucial to ensure the access of EU operators to the leading AI chips and models.
The Commission has also pointed, in its White Paper on Export Controls[4], to ‘the lack of common EU voice [which] exposes individual Member States to strong geopolitical pressures’.
The Commission also suggested concrete responses aimed at ensuring uniform EU export controls. To this end, the Commission will soon publish a recommendation to enhance the coordination of national control lists and has also proposed to make the update of the EU list of dual-use controls more flexible and reactive to technological and geopolitical developments.
The upcoming evaluation of Regulation (EU) 2021/821[5] will further allow the EU to assess this framework in the evolving international context.
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_25_255
- [2] https://www.chips-ju.europa.eu/
- [3] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/high-performance-computing-joint-undertaking
- [4] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52024DC0025
- [5] Regulation (EU) 2021/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 setting up a Union regime for the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items (recast),
OJ L 206, 11.6.2021, p. 1; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/821/oj/eng