How European AI startups remain dependent on US cloud infrastructure
By
Frederike Kaltheuner, Leevi Saari
Summary
This article is part of a three-part series in partnership with the AI Now Institute, examining how European AI startups operating at the application layer are deepening Europe's dependency on dominant US cloud and AI infrastructure providers. It contrasts companies like DeepL (Germany), which develops proprietary models using its own data center, with the broader trend of European startups building on top of US ecosystems. The piece argues that Europe's AI market is structurally entangled with US tech giants, creating a dependency that limits strategic autonomy.
Source
bskyHow European AI startups remain dependent on US cloud infrastructuretechpolicy.pressKey quotes
· 3 pulledThe obvious counterexample to start-ups like the Swedish vibe-coding company Lovable is Germany's DeepL.
Launched in 2017, the company develops its own, proprietary models at a renewable-powered data center in Sweden, deliberately relying on acquiring high-quality data rather
This three-part series is published in partnership with the AI Now Institute.
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