Europe Strategy Report Calls for €100 Billion Data-Center Push

Europe wants more control over the computing infrastructure behind AI, but a new strategy report begins from a stark gap: the continent has roughly 5% of global AI data-center capacity. Its proposed answer is a €100 billion public spending push, designed to help raise that share to 15% by 2030 while drawing €1.5 trillion in private investment.

A Transformative AI Strategy for Europe was released September 14 and co-authored by former European Commission executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager. Philippe Aghion, the French Nobel laureate, is also among its authors. Without faster investment in infrastructure and expertise, Europe could become dependent on a small number of foreign governments and individuals for AI technology.

A target built on a narrow base

The target is easier to gauge against the starting point. One account puts the United States at about 75% of global AI data-center capacity and China at about 15%, compared with Europe’s roughly 5%. Reaching 15% would put Europe level with China’s current reported share, not close to the US position.

5%Europe’s reported current share

Europe has roughly 5% of global AI data-center capacity.

15%Report’s 2030 target

The strategy says its investment agenda should raise Europe’s share to 15% by 2030.

75%US reported current share

One report estimates that the United States holds about 75% of global AI data-center capacity.

The financial proposal pairs public construction support with a far larger private-capital goal: €100 billion in data-center spending and €1.5 trillion attracted from private investors. Public funding would expand data-center capacity across Europe; the private target is an investment ambition, not money already committed.

More than a construction plan

The document treats physical capacity as one part of a broader sovereignty agenda. It argues that Europe should make data centers easier to build across the bloc and bring frontier-AI expertise and technology into EU institutions. Frontier AI refers here to the most advanced models and the capability to access and use them.

The report’s other proposed safeguards

• Create a Member State Alliance for AI supply-chain security.
• Include AI threats, including cyberattacks and biosecurity threats, in crisis-preparedness plans.
• Use European industrial strengths in supply-chain security; one account highlights ASML’s extreme ultraviolet lithography technology as an example.

The investment gap is already visible

The capacity split coincides with a sharp investment imbalance. Private AI investment in 2024 was reported at $109 billion in the United States, against $19.42 billion in Europe. Those figures do not establish that the strategy’s targets are achievable, but they illustrate the gap its authors want public policy to narrow.

Vestager frames the risk in political as well as commercial terms, arguing that Europe should not become “a playground for foreign powers.” The strategy remains a set of recommendations, not a spending decision. Its test will be whether European governments and investors consider domestic computing capacity urgent enough to fund at the proposed scale.