Bull reopens expanded Angers factory, doubling supercomputer output
Bull (Eviden) reopened its EUR 80 million expanded Angers factory on 1 October, doubling supercomputer output to 12 racks a month. CEO Le Roux said it won 15 of 18 EuroHPC tenders this year, with European parts now 70 percent of each machine.
CCIA economist says EU's Digital Markets Act bakes in yesterday's market structure
CCIA's chief economist Trevor Wagener says two 2025 US antitrust rulings show markets move too fast for fixed conduct rules, and argues the EU's Digital Markets Act "bakes in yesterday's market structure," already delaying AI features for European users.
Commission report: EU needs EUR 560 billion more R&D investment to hit 2030 target
The Commission's 2026 Science, Research and Innovation Performance report finds the EU needs EUR 560 billion more to hit 3 percent of GDP on R&D by 2030. It urges a European Research Area Act and a European Innovation Act.
Commission adds EUR 210 million to Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions for researchers
The European Commission added EUR 210 million to Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions, funding places for over 700 more researchers. The 2026 postdoctoral call had drawn a record 21,627 applications.
VC firm Headline closes USD 400 million fund for European AI founders
US headquartered VC firm Headline closed Headline EU VIII, a USD 400 million early stage fund for Seed and Series A companies across Europe with a focus on AI. Its past backing includes Mistral and Black Forest Labs.
ECIPE paper urges EU to reform telecom rules to capture 6G value
ECIPE's Erixon, Guinea, Pandya and Sharma say EU telecom equipment makers earn 3 percent margins against platforms' 28 percent, and urge reformed net neutrality rules, less overlap and support for European 6G equipment makers.
CCIA Europe says Digital Networks Act codifies pathways to network fees
CCIA Europe says the Commission's Digital Networks Act, via Article 9 and its conciliation mechanism, opens legal pathways for telecom operators to demand network fees from online services, eroding settlement free peering.
DIG Ventures closes USD 120 million Fund III for European AI infrastructure
London based DIG Ventures, founded by MuleSoft's Ross Mason, closed its third fund at USD 120 million (EUR 106 million). Fund III will back around 30 European pre-seed and seed stage AI and cloud infrastructure startups.
Deepslate raises EUR 7.7 million seed for European voice AI platform
Berlin based Deepslate raised a EUR 7.7 million seed round led by Munich investor 42CAP, with Alstin Capital and SIVentures, for its speech to speech AI platform built for European languages and hosted in EU data centres.
In September, Europe's public buyers chose European clouds while its companies signed with American ones
In September the public buyers on the record chose European cloud providers, and the companies chose American ones. UGAP, ESA and SURF picked European providers; BNP Paribas, O2 Germany and Greece's PPC signed with Google Cloud and AWS.
Ireland and UK run first joint exercise for subsea cable disruption response
Ireland and the UK ran their first joint exercise, codenamed Eastern Pearl, on 30 September 2026. It tested coordinated response to simulated disruption of the roughly six subsea telecoms cables linking Dublin to Britain across the Irish Sea.
Alice & Bob and ENS Lyon demonstrate DC biased cat qubit stabilisation
French quantum firm Alice & Bob and ENS Lyon demonstrated a DC voltage biased SQUID coupler stabilising cat qubits without microwave pumps, reaching a 3 MHz two photon exchange rate. The design could simplify wiring and cut heat load in future fault tolerant machines.
Paris's Blackfuel emerges from stealth, deploys AI inference cluster in Barcelona
Blackfuel, a Paris based AI infrastructure firm, emerged from stealth with over USD 250 million in contracted revenue and deployed its first AI inference cluster at Digital Realty's Barcelona data centre, with more sites planned in Spain, Finland and France.
NxN Data Centers enters Portugal with Evora acquisition, eyes EUR 100 million
Spain's NxN Data Centers bought a 1MW data centre in Evora, Portugal, from insolvent local firm Decsis, its first Portuguese site. NxN said it may invest up to EUR 100 million there over three years, not yet tied to any specific project.
Zenithon raises USD 10 million to build AI world models for physics
London based Zenithon raised USD 10 million from Backed, Lunar, Seraphim, MMC and SOSV to build AI world models predicting outcomes for fusion reactors, rockets and chipmaking equipment.
Study: German councils less dependent on US email providers than Austria, Switzerland
A Technische Hochschule Nurnberg study of 15,331 municipal email servers found just 7.2 percent of German councils rely on US providers, against 67 percent in Austria and 53.3 percent in Switzerland, though German security standards lag.
Aspirity Partners agrees EUR 100 million-plus majority stake in Onomondo
British investor Aspirity Partners signed a deal for a majority stake in Danish IoT connectivity firm Onomondo, with Danish state fund EIFO increasing its stake. The deal, exceeding EUR 100 million, awaits regulatory approval before closing in early 2027.
Inbolt raises EUR 11 million to expand robot vision AI internationally
Paris based Inbolt raised EUR 11 million led by Shift4Good, with Bridges Climate Transition Partners, BNP Paribas Developpement and Ora Global, for AI vision software fitted to industrial robots.
European Commission proposes EU Critical Communication System for first responders
The European Commission proposed a Regulation for an EU Critical Communication System linking first responders across all 31 EU and Schengen states. It shifts them from narrowband radio to 5G broadband backed by EU satellites and new EU monitoring centres.
Bitdefender and Aruba partner to host sovereign cybersecurity for Italian firms
Bitdefender agreed a partnership with Italian provider Aruba to host its GravityZone cybersecurity platform on Aruba's infrastructure, keeping customer data, security events and telemetry inside the EU for regulated Italian sectors.
Deutsche Telekom and Cloudflare sign European sovereignty partnership
Deutsche Telekom and Cloudflare agreed to interconnect networks directly and have T-Systems integrate and resell Cloudflare's security products across Europe. The companies also plan joint work on post-quantum cryptography framed around European digital sovereignty needs.
Infleqtion and Riverlane sign MOU on quantum error correction for UK programme
Infleqtion and UK quantum firm Riverlane signed an MOU to integrate Riverlane's Deltaflow and Deltakit error correction tools with Infleqtion's neutral atom platform, backing the next stage of the UK's Quantum Computing programme.
SiPearl chief says there is no sovereign cloud without European processors
SiPearl chief executive Philippe Notton said no cloud can be called sovereign without European processors, tying the claim to the OpenCUBE project for European server and cloud technology. He said the initiative should raise public awareness of the dependency.
DigitalEurope calls for EU action to close quantum computing funding gap
DigitalEurope said Europe attracts only 5% of global private quantum computing funding against over 50% for the US. It urged the EU to add public funding to stimulate demand and mobilise private growth capital.
EU picks Orange Business to build TESTA EIRIS sovereign comms backbone
Orange Business was selected to build TESTA EIRIS, the European Commission's new secure backbone linking EU institutions and member state administrations. The network spans at least 12 points of presence across five regions, targeting 99.999% availability.
EllaLink launches EU funded Caribbean Gateway cable from French Guiana
EllaLink launched the Caribbean Gateway, extending its EUR 29.9 million CEF Digital funded Lum@link cable from French Guiana into the Caribbean. The system will give the French overseas territory a direct fibre route to Europe by 2029.
Sovera Security secures EUR 535,000 from EIFO to build sovereign AI cybersecurity
Danish startup Sovera Security raised EUR 535,000 from state fund EIFO to build AI native, sovereign managed detection and response tools. Founder Soren Laustrup said Europe needs its own security solutions with control over data and AI decisions.
EU Commission tops up Horizon Europe research budget by EUR 500 million
The European Commission allocated an additional EUR 500 million to Horizon Europe for 2026 and 2027, lifting the two year budget to about EUR 14.8 billion. New calls include EUR 260 million for Bridging Actions 2027 and EUR 237 million for a nature positive economy call.
Bundesdruckerei-Gruppe and ZenDiS sign LoI for sovereign public sector IT
Bundesdruckerei-Gruppe and ZenDiS signed a Letter of Intent on sovereign public sector IT. They will integrate openDesk with Bundesdruckerei's genusecure Suite for classified (VS-NfD) document access.
Sweden and Germany pledge to put EU Peace Facility refunds back into Ukraine aid
Sweden's Pal Jonson and Germany's Sebastian Hartmann said their states will not keep the reimbursements due under the newly unblocked EUR 6.6 billion European Peace Facility, putting the money back into Ukraine support instead.
Google wins planning permission for Dublin data centre expansion
An Coimisiun Pleanala overturned South Dublin County Council's refusal, granting Google planning permission for a 72,400 square metre data centre extension at Grange Castle. Conditions require proof of power purchase agreements and renewable backup fuel before construction starts.
Google appeals EU General Court against two Digital Markets Act orders
Google filed two appeals at the EU General Court against Commission orders issued under the Digital Markets Act. One order requires Google to share anonymised search data with rival search engines and chatbots from January 2027, the other opens 11 Android AI features to competitors by August 2027.
Estonian investors raise stake in Huuru AI data centre to 42.5 percent
Estonian entrepreneurs including Juri Kaeo, Enn Kunila and Markus Villig raised their combined stake in Greenergy Data Centers, operator of the Huuru AI data centre, from 25.55% to 42.5%. The centre is expanding its AI computing capacity.
AWS to disconnect European Sovereign Cloud from global network in independence test
AWS will disconnect its European Sovereign Cloud from the AWS Global Network backbone for several hours on 24 October 2026, rerouting operational traffic over the public internet to demonstrate independent EU operation under the EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework and BSI's C3A criteria.
CEPA fellow says EU gigafactory drive chases impossible chip self-sufficiency
CEPA senior fellow Christopher Cytera argues the EU's EUR 10 billion AI Gigafactories drive chases impossible chip self-sufficiency. He urges an EU-UK semiconductor partnership managing interdependencies instead, citing IMEC's NanoIC pilot line.
CEPA analyst urges NATO to form dedicated drone interceptor squadron using Czech jets
RUSI's Justin Bronk, writing for CEPA, urges NATO to form a multinational squadron of 16 to 24 Czech Aero L-39NG jets to intercept Russian drones cheaply, citing Romania's surge in incursions this year.
CCIA warns EU's Digital Markets Act is top G20 digital trade barrier
CCIA published a paper ahead of the G20 trade ministerial naming the EU's Digital Markets Act and political advertising rules among top digital trade barriers. It cited USD 300 billion in forgone revenue for US firms across G20 markets.
France redirects Pasqal from defence quantum programme to civil FTQC R&D
France's SGPI and DGE asked Pasqal to submit a new R&D programme for fault tolerant neutral atom quantum computing, as the firm ends its role in the LSQUARE/PROQCIMA defence programme after completing its first phase.
Mistral AI opens Munich hub for Physics and Industrial AI research
Mistral AI opened a new hub in Munich dedicated to Physics AI and Industrial AI, adding over 30 researchers from its Emmi AI acquisition and partnering with TUM, BMW and Siemens Energy on industrial applications.
Germany already bars Chinese vendors like Huawei from emergency radio network
BDBOS president Christoph Hubner said Germany already excludes vendors from risk states such as China, including Huawei, from its emergency services broadband radio network. He cited backdoor and supply chain risks; the switch from TETRA is due by 2030.
EU states add SpaceX monitoring clause to 2 GHz satellite spectrum law
EU member states added a clause to their Council position on the 2 GHz satellite spectrum regulation requiring monitoring of SpaceX. They fear SpaceX could informally use EchoStar's EU licence after buying EchoStar's spectrum rights.
EU defence ministers formally adopt EUR 6.6 billion Peace Facility split for Ukraine
EU defence ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council finalised distribution of EUR 6.6 billion in European Peace Facility funds for Ukraine: EUR 900 million for EUMAM Ukraine, EUR 1 billion for joint procurement, EUR 4.7 billion to reimburse states for stockpile transfers.
DigitalEurope calls for broad EU-US Digital Dialogue on AI, chips, cybersecurity
DigitalEurope urged the EU and US to launch a broad Digital Dialogue covering AI, semiconductors, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure, building on July 2026 Commission-US engagements. It called for industry input on export controls, sovereignty frameworks and investment screening.
Quobly gains access to CEA-Leti's FAMES pilot line for quantum chips
Quobly, the French spin-qubit start-up, gained access to CEA-Leti's FAMES pilot line in Grenoble, an EU Chips JU facility built for semiconductor sovereignty, to prototype next-generation quantum processors alongside its STMicroelectronics manufacturing partnership.
Microsoft launches Azure Extended Zone in Luxembourg with Post
Microsoft and Post launched an Azure Extended Zone in Luxembourg, with Post subsidiary Deep hosting specially built server rooms while fewer than ten Microsoft staff install and operate Microsoft's own equipment. The zone stores selected data locally but excludes AI compute.
Digital SME Alliance says EU circular economy law can cut material dependence
European DIGITAL SME Alliance's Lina Nardone argues the EU's planned Circular Economy Act could cut reliance on imported critical raw materials, citing China's 2025 export curbs, and urges SME friendly secondary material rules.
EU Foreign Affairs Council formally adopts five joint defence projects
EU defence ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council formally adopted the five European Defence Projects of Common Interest on 28 September. The EDIP-funded projects cover drones, maritime, space, air defence and the eastern flank.
WB Group and Optix sign teaming pact for FONET, TOPAZ and COMP@N in Bulgaria
Poland's WB Group and Bulgaria's Optix signed a teaming agreement transferring FONET, TOPAZ and COMP@N technology, making Optix a Bulgarian centre for assembly, installation and after-sales support, strengthening NATO eastern-flank supply security.
French sovereign cloud startup Granite raises EUR 4 million to commercialise agentic infrastructure
Granite, styling itself Europe's full stack sovereign cloud, raised EUR 4 million led by Bifrost Studios to bring its containerised compute, storage and AI agent orchestration platform to market across Frankfurt, Paris and Stockholm.
ESA awards OVHcloud and CGI contract to build sovereign Digital EO cloud
ESA awarded OVHcloud and CGI a multi-million euro, 30-month contract to build Digital EO, pooling cloud storage, compute and AI tools for Copernicus and Destination Earth data, deployed across France, Germany and Italy with support run from Poland.
Swiss voters reject bid to lock strict neutrality into the constitution
Swiss voters rejected by about 70 percent an initiative to enshrine "perpetual and armed" neutrality in the constitution. It would have barred peacetime cooperation with NATO and limited sanctions to cases approved by the UN Security Council.
Nextcloud's Karlitschek says Europe can't wait, industry must drive sovereignty
Nextcloud CEO Frank Karlitschek marks ten years without venture capital. He says private industry must drive sovereignty from the bottom up, since "Europe can't wait", and that freedom of choice, not just data location, is core to digital sovereignty.
Nscale raises USD 3.36 billion in pre-IPO convertible financing ahead of US listing
London based AI cloud operator Nscale raised USD 3.36 billion in convertible loan notes led by Third Point, with Nvidia committing USD 1 billion, ahead of a planned US initial public offering, to expand its AI data centre platform.
Commissioner Albuquerque warns EU on dependence on US tech and card schemes
European Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque told the Dublin Interparliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance that Europe's reliance on US technology providers and card schemes leaves it vulnerable, urging European scale payments infrastructure.
Swiss National Council votes for sovereign digital infrastructure motion
Switzerland's National Council voted 126 to 66 on 25 September 2026 to approve a motion instructing the Federal Council to enable state co-financing and oversight of a sovereign cloud service and exchange platform, over the government's own objection.
Switzerland's Federal Council plans new Cybersecurity Act by 2027
Switzerland's Federal Council instructed the Defence Department to draft a standalone Cybersecurity Act by June 2027, consolidating three parliamentary motions into rules modelled on the EU's Cyber Resilience Act for hardware and software makers and for hosting and cloud providers.
EU states agree to unblock EUR 6.6 billion in Peace Facility funds for Ukraine
EU states reached political agreement to release EUR 6.6 billion in European Peace Facility funds for Ukraine stalled since 2023, after Hungary lifted its veto; EUR 4.7 billion reimburses member states, EUR 1 billion funds joint procurement, EUR 900 million backs the EU training mission.
Cyprus commits EUR 1.28 billion to defence modernisation for 2027 to 2029
Cyprus earmarked EUR 1.28 billion for defence from 2027 to 2029, more than double 2026's EUR 176.8 million, drawing on its EUR 1.2 billion SAFE allocation for drones, counter-drone systems, surveillance and air defence, while continuing a EUR 25 million AMX-30 tank upgrade.
European Commission clears Creotech Quantum's EuroQCI QKD module for production
The European Commission gave a positive final assessment of Creotech Quantum's EUR 6.98 million eCAUSIS project, EUR 4.52 million EU funded, clearing its DV-QKD module, built under EuroQCI, for serial production of up to 1,000 units a year.
Virtus Data Centres secures GBP 2.45 billion financing for UK and EU growth
Virtus Data Centres, owned by Singapore's STTGDC with Macquarie holding a 40% stake, secured a GBP 2.45 billion bank financing package including a GBP 1.2 billion green capex facility. The money funds its UK campuses and European expansion.
Digital SME Alliance urges lawmakers to protect EU Inc rules for SMEs
The European DIGITAL SME Alliance's Florian Schuck urges Council and Parliament to keep EU Inc's EUR 100, 48 hour incorporation universal and require its digital infrastructure providers to be established in the Union, favouring European suppliers.
BNP Paribas signs five year Google Cloud pact for agentic AI in core banking
BNP Paribas signed a five year partnership with Google Cloud on 24 September 2026, adding Gemini Enterprise and Gemini models to LLM@CIB, its assistant for over 65,000 staff, and to Nickel Assist for 200 advisers.
Hungary and Italy slash SAFE loan requests, freeing EUR 20 billion for reallocation
Hungary cut its SAFE defence loan request from EUR 16.2 billion to about EUR 5.4 billion and Italy from EUR 14.9 billion to over EUR 8 billion, freeing roughly EUR 20 billion of the EUR 150 billion facility for a second call expected by year end.
OCCAR signs EUR 3.7 billion DDX destroyer contract with Fincantieri-Leonardo joint venture
OCCAR signed a EUR 3.7 billion contract, including EUR 1.3 billion in options, with Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, the Fincantieri (51 percent) and Leonardo (49 percent) joint venture, to design, build and support two new generation DDX destroyers for the Italian Navy, due in 2033 and 2035.
CEPA warns China's rise in biotech discovery threatens transatlantic pharma edge
CEPA fellow Elly Rostoum argues China is climbing from biotech manufacturing into drug discovery, urging the US and Europe to preserve the translation-stage strengths that keep transatlantic pharma competitive.
NSPA signs NATO wide framework deal with Bofors for 40mm 3P ammunition
NSPA signed a framework agreement with BAE Systems Bofors for 40mm 3P ammunition on 24 September, letting NATO members order the pre-fragmented, programmable, proximity-fused rounds through a single streamlined channel rather than bilateral contracts.
ESA seeks EUR 350 million funding boost for military ISR satellite plan
ESA asked participating governments to more than double funding for its military ISR satellite constellation, from EUR 167 million to EUR 350 million, with a subscription deadline of 30 November, to fund payload development and an in orbit demonstration.
ESA and partners complete rendezvous and docking tests for orbital servicing
ESA and industry partners including The Exploration Company, Thales Alenia Space, Sener, GMV, Almatech and CDS completed rendezvous and docking interface tests at ESTEC under the InSPoC 1 programme, demonstrating the full approach and connection sequence for European in orbit servicing.
Helsing and rivals advance to Stage 2 of EDA's Sentinel Strike drone trial
Helsing, Destinus, C-Astral, UAVision and Spirit Aeronautical advanced to Stage 2 of the European Defence Agency's Sentinel Strike loitering munition challenge, competing for a EUR 1.8 million prize pool in field trials at Santa Margarida, Portugal, from 28 September.
EDA's first Defence Readiness Report finds EU rearmament still falls short
The European Defence Agency's first annual Defence Readiness Report found that member states' current plans do not meet the bloc's 2030 readiness goal, despite spending rising from EUR 343 billion in 2024 to a projected EUR 454 billion in 2026.
EU court adviser backs broad reading of dual-use export control definition
Advocate General Tamara Capeta told the Court of Justice that goods can count as dual-use items under Regulation (EU) 2021/821 by capability, not design intent, in a case over Diamond Aircraft Industries' training-plane exports to Myanmar's air force, while requiring states to justify each refusal.
EDRi open letter urges EU states to reject GDPR weakening in Data Omnibus
EDRi published an open letter urging EU member state representatives to reject the Digital Omnibus on Data's pseudonymisation, AI legitimate interest and cookie consent changes, calling them a weakening of GDPR protections.
KNDS and Aerix Systems agree drone interceptor cooperation for TARGAS DSP10
KNDS and French drone maker Aerix Systems agreed a strategic cooperation to develop and industrialise the AXS-mu1 hit-to-kill interceptor drone for KNDS's TARGAS DSP10 counter-drone system, with production due to start in 2027.
DigitalEurope backs European Security Council, urges faster defence procurement
DigitalEurope director general Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, responding to von der Leyen's State of the Union address, backed a European Security Council complementing NATO and urged faster procurement to turn defence spending into deployable AI, cyber, drone, space and secure connectivity capabilities.
SES begins building its first satellite factory, in Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg
SES started construction of a 16,000 square metre satellite manufacturing facility in Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg, its first in house production site, due to open in 2028 and to contribute payload development and assembly work to the IRIS2 programme.
DTCP closes first tranche of Defence Fund I at EUR 455 million
DTCP announced the first close of its Defence Fund I with EUR 455 million in commitments from Deutsche Telekom, Porsche SE, Denmark's EIFO, Danica and SmartCap, to back European growth stage defence, cyber and space technology companies.
Italian Kubernetes infrastructure firm Clastix raises EUR 2.9 million seed round
Naples based Clastix raised EUR 2.9 million in a seed round led by CDP Venture Capital, with Mistral and EU-backed Vertis SGR joining, to scale its Kubernetes control plane infrastructure, framed by backers as investment in Europe's sovereign AI stack.
Bundestag to build its own AI chatbot to replace 'shadow AI' among MPs
Bundestag Vice President Andrea Lindholz said parliament will deploy its own AI chatbot, built with a Berlin startup, for MPs and staff by end 2026. It replaces unauthorised 'shadow AI' tools and aims to cut reliance on foreign providers.
Austria's Nationalrat adopts law allowing fully automated AI administrative notices
Austria's National Council passed AVG and VStG amendments letting authorities issue first instance notices and fines via fully automated AI, with no caseworker review. Citizens keep a two week objection right that triggers human review.
ZenDiS opens openDesk partner programme to private cloud and IT providers
Germany's ZenDiS opened its openDesk partner programme to private sector cloud and IT providers for the first time, alongside public bodies. Three tiers include an Approved Sovereign Service Provider tier requiring BSI C5 and SEAL Level 3 certification.
Alibaba Cloud to expand German data centres, add Dutch, Finnish, Turkish regions
Alibaba Cloud said at its Apsara Conference it will expand its German data centres and open first cloud regions in the Netherlands, Finland and Turkey within a year, targeting over 20 gigawatts of global capacity by 2032.
Portugal's TEKEVER raises USD 580 million Series D at USD 6.4 billion valuation
Portugal's TEKEVER, self-described leading European maker of AI-powered autonomous systems, raised USD 580 million in a Series D first close led by US fund UC Investments and Scottish firm Baillie Gifford, valuing it at USD 6.4 billion to fund manufacturing, acquisitions and expansion.
EESC calls for changes to EU Cloud and AI Development Act
The EESC adopted its opinion on the Cloud and AI Development Act on 23 September 2026, backing the aim to cut EU reliance on non-European cloud and AI providers but demanding ring-fenced multiannual funding and social and environmental conditions on data centre acceleration zones.
Belgian firm books lunar rover slot on Blue Origin's Blue Moon mission
Belgium's Space Applications Services booked a payload slot for its 20 kilogram LUVMI-M rover on a Blue Origin Blue Moon lander, calling it Europe's first fully commercial lunar rover mission, financed through customer payload contracts ahead of a 2029 launch.
EuroHPC launches EU-LAC Supercomputing Network for AI cooperation
EuroHPC JU launched the EU-LAC Supercomputing Network for AI, coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center with seven European institutions, linking HPC and AI capacity with seven Latin American and Caribbean states under the EU's Global Gateway strategy.
EDA's MARSUR passes real time NATO interoperability test, eyes EU Secret status
EDA demonstrated real time data exchange between its MARSUR maritime surveillance network, national command systems and NATO during the REPMUS exercise, backing a funding request to upgrade 18 nodes to EU Secret classification with a 2028 target.
OVHcloud CEO says EU public commitment for AI gigafactories too small
OVHcloud chief executive Octave Klaba said in Gdansk that the EU's proposed EUR 200 million, five year public commitment to buy AI gigafactory services is too small, and urged Europe wide pooled demand over national strategies.
Kubilius says EU must not depend on foreign rockets, plans space action plan
Commissioner Kubilius told a BusinessEurope industrial event Europe must not depend on foreign rockets, citing 62 Galileo and Copernicus launches needed by 2034, and said he will tour Europe and present a space access action plan next year.
Germany selects QUDORA led consortium for EUR 122 million quantum bid
Germany's BMFTR selected a QUDORA led seven member consortium, including NXP Germany, AQT Germany, Julich and PTB, for the EUR 122 million, five year NFQC-1k project to build a 1,000 physical qubit trapped-ion quantum computer and a QPU pilot line.
Q.ANT launches world's first open source SDK for photonic computing
Germany's Q.ANT open sourced its Native Computing Toolkit, a C and Python SDK with CPU simulation for its photonic Native Processing Units, ahead of cloud access via IONOS.
Connect Ventures holds USD 55 million first close of USD 80 million Fund V
London based Connect Ventures held a USD 55 million first close of its USD 80 million Fund V, anchored by the British Business Bank, to back pre-seed technical founders across Europe with cheques of USD 500,000 to 5 million.
Airbus wins 25-year PARACOM contract to secure French armed forces networks
France's DGA awarded Airbus Cybersecurity a 25 year contract, PARACOM, to design, build and maintain classified data gateways for the armed forces, from secret to unclassified levels.
EDRi and SHARE Foundation say EU's spyware double standard undermines its credibility
EDRi's Ajanovic Andelic and SHARE Foundation's Ristic say the EU's spyware double standard undermines its credibility, urging the Commission to ban spyware vendors from EU funding, open infringement cases against member states, and tie Serbia's accession to ending state spyware use.
UK launches RAF Space Effects Squadron with GBP 880 million funding
The RAF stands up No III Space Effects Squadron to disrupt and deny hostile threats to British satellites, backed by GBP 880 million for space ISR and space control activities running to 2029/30.
StandardX raises GBP 10 million seed for UK sovereign isotope refinery
UK deep tech firm StandardX raised a GBP 10 million seed round led by Vsquared Ventures and East X Ventures to build an accelerator based isotope refinery, framed as sovereign supply for Britain and Europe.
SPRIND and NADI launch EUR 40 million challenge for AI native European chip design
Germany's SPRIND and the Netherlands' new agency NADI commit EUR 40 million over 20 months to teams using AI to compress chip design from years to weeks, funding seven teams then three finalists.
ESA extends Rocket Factory Augsburg Boost! contract by EUR 2.7 million
ESA extends its Boost! contract with Rocket Factory Augsburg by EUR 2.7 million, matched by RFA and backed by the UK Space Agency, to fund engine and stage testing at SaxaVord ahead of RFA One's first flight.
EU governments drop fixed deadline to rip out high-risk telecom suppliers
EU governments circulated a document dated 22 September 2026 dropping the Commission's fixed 36 month deadline for telecom operators to remove high-risk suppliers' equipment. Deutsche Telekom and 16 peers had warned of EUR 40 billion in replacement costs.
Greece proposes European Spectrum Union to pool 6G revenue for EU budget
Eurogroup chair Kyriakos Pierrakakis presented EU finance ministers a plan for a European Spectrum Union pooling future national 6G and 5G auction proceeds, an initial EUR 12 to 15 billion, into a common EU mechanism to help fund the 2028 to 2034 budget and strategic tech investment.
ESA signs Phoenix contract with ClearSpace for European GEO servicing craft
ESA signs a Phoenix Partnership Project contract with Switzerland's ClearSpace, signed 22 September, to mature a European spacecraft able to dock with and extend the life of geostationary satellites.
AWS wins first NATO wide approval to handle NATO RESTRICTED cloud workloads
AWS becomes the first cloud provider approved by all NATO member nations to process NATO RESTRICTED data, validated via Spain's CCN, across its 15 NATO region deployments, seven of them in mainland Europe.
CCIA warns Lords committee UK Online Safety Act lacks a correction route
CCIA told peers reviewing the Online Safety Act that Ofcom's child safety evidence remains preliminary and accumulating rules risk incoherence, urging a merits based review route for Ofcom's substantive decisions rather than judicial review alone.
CCIA Europe tells Commission Greek social media age ban breaches EU law
CCIA Europe told the European Commission that Greece's draft law banning social media for under 15s breaches the Digital Services Act and the country of origin principle, urging Brussels to declare it incompatible with EU law and Greece to pause it.
NATO Innovation Fund and Join Capital lead EUR 11 million Terasi seed round
Stockholm's Terasi, maker of hard to jam millimetre wave tactical communications hardware, raised a EUR 11 million seed round co-led by the NATO Innovation Fund and Germany's Join Capital, with US-linked In-Q-Tel among the backers.
SiPearl delivers first Rhea1 CPU samples to Bull for JUPITER supercomputer
SiPearl delivered the first Rhea1 CPU samples to Bull for integration into JUPITER, Europe's exascale flagship; SiPearl calls it its first order and first significant revenue. General availability of the 80 core Arm based chip is still due by end 2026.
Bittium and Safran Electronics sign MoU on French tactical communications
Finland's Bittium and France's Safran Electronics & Defense signed a two year memorandum of understanding, at the Finnish Embassy in Paris, to explore joint tactical communications for the French armed forces, spanning air defence networking, counter-drone links and soldier radios.
Belgian-Dutch minehunter Tournai arrives in Zeebruges ahead of state handover
The mine countermeasures vessel Tournai, built by Naval Group and Exail for the Belgian Dutch rMCM programme, arrived in Zeebruges, with ownership due to pass to the Belgian State on 25 September as the second Belgian ship in the series.
Babcock and Arqit demonstrate quantum-safe encryption for defence comms
UK firms Babcock and Arqit demonstrated quantum-safe encryption across Babcock's layered communications architecture at DVD 2026, sending secure data between a headquarters and a deployed mortar system over 4G, Wi-Fi and satcom links without inline encryptors.
Finland's Verda raises USD 189 million to expand its own AI cloud and GPU capacity
Helsinki based Verda (formerly DataCrunch) raised USD 189 million (EUR 163 million) Series B led by Emergence Capital, valuing it above USD 1 billion, to expand the data centres, GPUs and cloud platform it owns and operates across Europe.
Dutch nanoimprint maker Morphotonics closes Series B above EUR 40 million with EIB loan
Veldhoven based Morphotonics closed a Series B above EUR 40 million, including a EUR 20 million EIB convertible loan under InvestEU, to scale nanoimprint manufacture of optical waveguides for AI glasses and data centre components.
France's Lightspring raises EUR 3.5 million seed to fix photonic chip packaging
Besançon based Lightspring raised EUR 3.5 million (a EUR 3.1 million seed round led by Atlantic and OVNI Capital plus a EUR 350,000 i-Lab grant) to industrialise 3D printed optical packaging for photonic chips used in AI infrastructure.
Commission and EIB Group launch European Institutional Investors Pact for tech scale-ups
The Commission and the EIB Group launched the European Institutional Investors Pact at the TechEU Equity Summit, a voluntary framework under which 13 institutional investors intend to channel capital through ETCI 2.0 and the Scaleup Europe Fund into European tech scale-ups.
ASML public affairs chief says Europe buys none of its chip machines this year
ASML EVP for public affairs Frank Heemskerk said at De Balie in Amsterdam that Europe's revenue share fell to zero percent in 2026, from one percent in 2025 and five percent in 2024, and urged Europe to organise chip demand collectively.
Ukraine's Cluster Alliance becomes first Ukrainian member of EU's ENDR network
Ukraine's Cluster Alliance, representing 42 clusters and over 2,500 SMEs, joins the European Network of Defence related Regions as its first Ukrainian member, taking the network to 132 entities across 23 member states, Norway and Ukraine.
Meta announces Petal, a petabit subsea cable landing in France with Orange
Meta unveiled Petal, a 7,000 km petabit-class subsea cable to link the United States and France by 2029, built with NEC and Sumitomo Electric, with Orange handling the Atlantic coast landing and European network connection.
European Court of Auditors finds EU cyber incident response only partly effective
European Court of Auditors Special Report 19/2026 finds the EU's cyber incident cooperation framework only partly effective: just 14 cross-border incidents reported by seven states in 2025, patchy NIS2 transposition, and the EU alert system still not operational.
CCIA Europe says EU data centre rating scheme ignores climate and engineering realities
CCIA Europe said the Commission's newly adopted EU data centre rating scheme ignores climate and engineering differences; its energy factor excludes geothermal and clean hydrogen, risking investment moving outside the EU, said policy manager Leonardo Veneziani.
SURF awards Eurofiber Cloud Infra the contract to host Dutch national AI factory
Dutch research body SURF awarded Eurofiber Cloud Infra the contract to host the Netherlands' first EuroHPC AI factory in its Groningen data centre, backed by EUR 200 million in EU, national and regional funding, due in 2027 with full capacity by early 2028.
Spain unveils Plan IA360, a EUR 600 million AI adoption bonus for SMEs
Spain's PM Pedro Sanchez launched Plan IA360, a 12 month AI roadmap with a EUR 600 million Bono IA for SMEs and self employed, funding only European tech companies, plus a bid for an EuroHPC AI gigafactory of 100,000 accelerators by 2028-29.
iPronics and Barcelona Supercomputing Center agree optical networking tie-up
Spanish photonics firm iPronics agreed a two year collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center to integrate its ONE programmable optical circuit switching platform into BSC's GPU and HPC infrastructure for AI networking.
SEALSQ, WISeKey and Jura sign MoU for Swiss post-quantum chip centre
SEALSQ, WISeKey and Switzerland's Canton of Jura signed an MoU to build a Post Quantum Semiconductor and Cybersecurity Center, an indicative CHF 40 to 60 million investment over six years targeting over 250 jobs by year eight.
Irish watchdog fines Google EUR 403 million over unlawful location data use
Ireland's DPC fined Google Ireland Limited EUR 403 million under the GDPR after a six year inquiry, finding its Web & App Activity, Location History and Location Accuracy features unlawful, unfair and poorly explained, and ordered compliance within six months.
Final Frontier and Myriad unite behind EUR 100 million Nordic defence tech fund
Danish defencetech investors Final Frontier and Myriad united under the Final Frontier brand, targeting EUR 100 million for a Fund II backing pre-seed and seed defence startups across the Nordics and Ukraine, with first close due by year end 2026.
Commission adopts EU wide sustainability rating scheme for data centres
The Commission adopted a common EU wide rating scheme for data centres, grading power and water use by electronic label to increase transparency and support their integration into Europe's energy system.
Macron pledges French state investment in NAISTS transatlantic cable to New York
During a visit to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon on 20 September 2026, President Macron said the French state would invest alongside operator SCLES in NAISTS, a 6,000 kilometre cable linking Brittany to New York, without naming a figure.
Norway orders three more WiSENT 2 recovery vehicles from Germany's FFG
Norway's Defence Material Agency ordered three more WiSENT 2 armoured recovery vehicles from Germany's FFG, taking its planned fleet to 12 vehicles after 8 have already been delivered; the contract value was not disclosed.
Creotech Quantum signs EUR 2.33 million ESA contract for QKD detectors
Creotech Quantum signed a EUR 2.33 million, 24 month contract with ESA to design and demonstrate superconducting nanowire single photon detectors for QKD ground stations, with EUR 1.2 million of the work allocated to Creotech under the HRQKD project.
EIB and National Bank of Greece sign EUR 250 million defence SME financing deal
EIB and Greece's National Bank of Greece signed a EUR 250 million package (EUR 200 million covered-bond financing plus a EUR 50 million guarantee) so Greek SMEs and Mid-Caps investing in security and defence can access cheaper finance.
DigitalEurope's Bonefeld-Dahl backs a single EU-wide Kids Act over national patchwork
DigitalEurope's Director General Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl says child safety online is a shared responsibility for industry and backs a single EU-wide Kids Act rather than a patchwork of 27 national rules, in an interview published on the trade body's site.
UK Sovereign AI Fund in talks to anchor round for drug discovery start-up
The UK government's taxpayer-backed Sovereign AI fund is in talks to anchor a funding round for drug discovery start-up Potential Sciences with a seven-figure investment and compute access; its head of ventures would join the board.
EU disburses EUR 3.3 billion in defence funding to Ukraine
The European Commission disbursed EUR 3.3 billion to Ukraine under the Ukraine Support Loan's defence window for drones and missiles, its fourth such payment, taking 2026 support to nearly EUR 15 billion, von der Leyen said.
Turbopump anomaly cuts Ariane 6's 2026 launch cadence to five or six missions
A turbopump anomaly found in August 2026 during post flight checks will cut Ariane 6's 2026 launch total to five or six missions from a planned eight, as ArianeGroup and Safran assess repair or replacement at Kourou.
OpenAI filed no EU AI Act report on RubyGems agent incident, Commission says
A European Commission spokesperson confirmed OpenAI filed no formal AI Act incident report on the May 2026 RubyGems agent episode, despite the AI Office's awareness and contact with the firm; OpenAI had reported a separate Hugging Face hack.
Arcos raises EUR 5.5 million seed round to secure critical infrastructure
Munich's Arcos closed a EUR 5.5 million seed round with HTGF, Bayern Kapital, Pact, Haufe, Robin Capital and business angels, to build a control centre platform guarding substations, railways and data centres.
Cloud and AI Development Act referred to Parliament committees, rapporteurs named
The European Parliament referred the Cloud and AI Development Act to committee, naming ITRE as lead with rapporteur Diego Solier and IMCO as associated committee under Reinier van Lanschot.
Greece's PPC signs AWS deal for EUR 1 billion a side Kozani data centre
Greece's PPC signed a binding memorandum with Amazon Web Services to build a 300 megawatt, expandable to 1 gigawatt, data centre at Kozani, each side investing close to EUR 1 billion. PPC supplies the site and renewable power; AWS installs and operates the IT infrastructure.
Ex-Global Switch team launches Astor with EUR 5 billion European pipeline
Former Global Switch executives launched Astor, a European data centre developer backed by at least EUR 100 million of initial equity from Margaux Platforms. The venture targets a six site, roughly EUR 5 billion pipeline in Berlin, Madrid, Marseille and Milan.
Industry report finds EU captures under 8 cents per euro of AI data centre spend
A joint report by the Global Electronics Association and Paris based DECISION Etudes and Conseil finds EU firms capture only 6 cents per euro on data centre semiconductors, 7 cents on servers and 8 cents on cloud infrastructure, and urges an end to end EU strategy.
Spain's draft cybersecurity coordination law clears committee before Council of Ministers
Spain's draft Cybersecurity Coordination and Governance Law, transposing the NIS2 Directive and creating a National Cybersecurity Center, cleared interministerial review at the CGSEYS committee, moving toward Council of Ministers approval and referral to Congress.
Thales launches HexaForce, a sovereign AI command and control system to rival Palantir
Thales unveiled HexaForce, an AI-enhanced multi-domain command and control platform built on open standards, pitched as a sovereign alternative to US systems like Palantir's Maven, tested at NATO CWIX 2026 to support over 100,000 personnel.
Orange and Telesat inaugurate Europe's first Lightspeed satellite gateway in France
Orange and Canada's Telesat inaugurated Europe's first Telesat Lightspeed Gateway at Orange's Tier 4 teleport in Bercenay en Othe, France, ground infrastructure for Telesat's planned 225 satellite LEO constellation serving European enterprise and government clients from 2028.
Cycloid becomes developer portal for EU Commission's sovereign cloud framework
Paris based Cycloid was named developer facing portal for the European Commission's EUR 180 million, six year sovereign cloud framework, giving up to 5,000 EU institution developers access to four vetted European cloud providers, and became a pre-approved DIGIT software broker supplier.
ECB's Olli Rehn backs jointly issued European debt to fund defence build up
ECB Governing Council member and Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn said Europe should issue jointly issued debt to fund its defence build up, calling it a liquid, euro denominated safe asset.
Snowflake announces STACKIT integration with keys to be held in the EU
Snowflake announced an integration of its AI Data Cloud with Schwarz Digits' STACKIT under which encryption key ownership and control will be held in STACKIT's EU based infrastructure for regulated customers in Germany and Austria; the post calls this planned.
Capgemini joins Telefonica-led EURO-3C digital sovereignty consortium
Capgemini joined the EUR 75 million EU backed EURO-3C consortium led by Telefonica, leading data sovereignty and interoperability work across a federated edge and cloud network spanning 87 organisations in 13 countries.
Commissioner Ribera sets out EU vision for democratic, competitive AI
Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera addressed Fordham University's 53rd Annual Conference on building a democratic, competitive and sustainable future for artificial intelligence, setting out the Commission's terms for AI governance.
European and Canadian innovation leaders meet the tech sovereignty moment
DIGITAL SME Alliance, Canada's Digital Governance Council and the Council of Canadian Innovators welcomed von der Leyen's EU-Canada alliance pitch; president Oliver Grun urged joint control over AI, quantum, cybersecurity and manufacturing technology.
Canadian PM Carney urges Europe to pool compute, coordinate AI rules in alliance pitch
Canadian PM Mark Carney told the European Parliament that Canada and Europe should pool sovereign compute capacity, coordinate AI safety standards, and deepen cooperation on semiconductors, critical minerals, space and payments to secure shared strategic autonomy.
Bull CEO Le Roux sets out vision for a sovereign European HPC supply chain
Bull CEO Emmanuel Le Roux tells HPCwire the French, state owned supercomputer maker is building European supply chain independence: local NVL72 manufacturing, a BXI interconnect replacing Nvidia Mellanox from January 2027, and backing for European AI accelerator startups.
Cybersecurity Act rapporteur Gregorova tightens rules on high-risk suppliers
Czech Greens MEP Marketa Gregorova, the European Parliament's rapporteur on the Cybersecurity Act revision (CSA2), tabled amendments for mandatory certification, shorter deadlines to drop high-risk suppliers, and a new EU process to identify them.