Europe's AI sovereignty strategy requires strategic purchases and investment

Europe's AI startups raised $23 billion in the first half of 2026, a 130% increase year-over-year, according to a Crunchbase and HumanX report. However, funding alone is not enough to secure control over the region's AI future. Axelera AI's CEO, Fabrizio Del Maffeo, emphasized the need for specialized chips to enable AI processing on devices rather than centralized data centers. Meanwhile, Mehdi Ghissassi of AI71 highlighted the importance of the application layer for data sovereignty, stressing the need to retain trade secrets and know-how. The UAE, with its abundant and cheap energy, aims to integrate AI agents into half of its citizens' government interactions within two years. Ghissassi noted that competing at the model layer is impractical due to high costs and rapid commoditization. Europe, a net importer of energy, lacks sufficient compute power for AI, despite its strengths in research talent and a large population. Del Maffeo warned that Europe's slower adoption of AI purchasing practices risks weakening its economies.