European Processor Initiative concludes as Rhea1 chip runs for first time
The European Processor Initiative said its second phase has concluded, with the 80 core Rhea1 chip, Europe's most complex processor design, fully operational and set to power the JUPITER exascale system.
EuroHPC commits EUR 10 million to new phase of EUMaster4HPC skills programme
EuroHPC JU signed a grant agreement worth about EUR 10 million to extend the EUMaster4HPC programme to 2032, training up to 400 students across 43 partners in 23 countries in HPC, AI and quantum computing.
Ukraine and EU sign EDIP and EDF agreements opening EUR 300 million to Ukrainian defence firms
Ukraine's defence minister Fedorov and EU defence commissioner Kubilius signed EDF accession and an EDIP financing agreement giving Ukrainian firms a EUR 300 million Ukraine Support Instrument: EUR 260 million for output capacity, EUR 35.3 million for BraveTech EU grants.
EU and India agree to open Horizon Europe talks, deepen semiconductor and AI cooperation
At the third EU-India Trade and Technology Council in Brussels, the Commission and India agreed to open Horizon Europe association talks, targeting a close by end 2026, and to deepen cooperation on semiconductors, high-performance computing, quantum and AI.
EU AI Office experts urge Commission to triple bloc's global AI compute share
The Commission's AI Office published expert forum findings recommending the EU triple its share of global AI compute capacity from about 5 percent to 15 percent, matching its share of world GDP, naming compute and energy the most urgent priorities.
DigitalEurope says Chips Act 2.0 needs EUR 20 billion member state funding
DIGITALEUROPE's Fabian Bohnenberger and Clara Balestrieri welcome the Chips Act 2.0 proposal but call for member states to commit at least EUR 20 billion under the 2028 to 2034 budget, citing a 15 to 30 percent cost disadvantage against Asian rivals.
ESA installs first on-premises quantum computer, Bell-1, in Italy
ESA installed its first on-premises quantum computer, Bell-1, a 6-qubit system built by Irish firm Equal1, at its Earth observation centre in Frascati, Italy, to prototype hybrid quantum-classical algorithms for satellite data processing.
Parliament and Council agree EU's AGILE defence innovation programme
European Parliament and Council negotiators reached a provisional political agreement on the AGILE programme, a EUR 115 million fast track grant instrument for SME defence innovation, targeted to start operating on 1 January 2027.
Danish startup Triton Depth raises EUR 1 million for underwater sensor network
Copenhagen startup Triton Depth raised EUR 1 million in a pre seed round from Denmark's EIFO and The Creator Fund, to build a passive acoustic sensor network detecting underwater drones and threats to subsea cables.
Berlin's NextGO Epi raises EUR 2 million pre-seed for gallium oxide chip wafers
NextGO Epi, an IKZ spin-off and Europe's only gallium oxide epiwafer producer, raised EUR 2 million pre-seed led by Vireo Ventures to expand production and its European and global commercial presence.
South Korea's KoMiCo funds Czech chip-parts plant near Dresden fab cluster
South Korean supplier KoMiCo approved an 81.38 billion won guarantee backing a USD 45 million loan for its Czech subsidiary TaMiCo Zatec, building a chip parts cleaning and coating plant to supply ESMC, GlobalFoundries, Infineon and Bosch near Dresden.
EU opens EUR 3.94 million pilot call on subsea cable security data
The Commission opened a EUR 3.94 million call, 50 percent EU co-financed, for a pilot pooling private sector surveillance data to support the EU's Regional Cable Hubs against submarine cable threats, open to consortia of at least two member states.
Destinus leads five firm Bliksem EXO consortium for European missile defence
Destinus, MBDA Deutschland, Safran Electronics and Defense, Airbus Defence and Space and Thales signed a letter of intent in Paris to form the Bliksem EXO consortium, led by Destinus, to build a European exo atmospheric interceptor.
EDRi urges Commission to reassess EU-US Data Privacy Framework
EDRi said the Commission must immediately reassess the EU-US Data Privacy Framework after the US Supreme Court's Trump v Slaughter ruling stripped independent-agency protections underpinning the adequacy decision, and publish its legal assessment.
Deutsche Telekom and AIT win EU mandate to unify quantum comms backbone
The European Commission awarded coordination mandates for EuroQCI's quantum communication backbone to Deutsche Telekom's PETRUS2 and Austria's AIT HarmoniQCI, tasking them to unify 26 national quantum key distribution networks into one European infrastructure.
EU clears EUR 659 million German state aid for four semiconductor plants
The European Commission approved EUR 659 million in German state aid for four chip plants under the Chips Act: Element 3-5, KETEK, and German units of US-owned Vishay and KLA, taking cumulative EU chip aid clearances to about EUR 14.2 billion.
UK funds three suppliers to develop low cost air defence interceptors
The UK Ministry of Defence awarded GBP 3.16 million to three suppliers, Frankenburg Technologies, Greenjets and Cambridge Aerospace, to develop low cost drone interceptors under the LCADE programme within the five nation LEAP initiative.
Intel to invest EUR 5 billion to expand chip manufacturing at Leixlip, Ireland
Intel said it will invest EUR 5 billion to upgrade its Fab 34 campus at Leixlip with Intel 3 tooling for Xeon processors, targeting completion by end 2027, announced with Taoiseach Micheal Martin.
ESA report finds European space budgets grew 12 percent in 2025
ESA's Space Economy Report 2026 found European space budgets rose 12 percent to EUR 13.5 billion in 2025, the first double digit rise in five years, driven chiefly by German defence spending, while European primes held only 10 percent of the global upstream market.
CriteriaCaixa relaunches venture arm, targets EUR 300 million for Iberian deep tech
CriteriaCaixa relaunched its venture arm as two evergreen vehicles, Criteria Bio Ventures and Criteria Venture Tech, targeting EUR 300 million invested by 2030 in Spanish and Portuguese biotech, AI, photonics, cybersecurity and software infrastructure firms.
ECIPE says Spain's China caution on cybersecurity law is self-imposed, not coerced
ECIPE's Hosuk Lee-Makiyama argues Madrid, not Beijing, drives Spain's resistance to the EU's cybersecurity act, linking its stance to EUR 4 billion in Chinese battery investment and reliance on Chinese cloud servers.
ECIPE urges EU to anchor Southeast Europe in digital, industrial value chains
ECIPE's Philipp Lamprecht and Frauke Seebass argue the EU is losing ground to China, Russia, Turkey and Gulf states in Southeast Europe's digital connectivity, critical raw materials and defence sectors, and urge deeper integration of candidate states into EU value chains.
Helsing raises USD 1.8 billion Series E, mostly from US and Canadian funds
Munich-based defence AI company Helsing closed a USD 1.8 billion Series E at a USD 18 billion valuation, with most new money from US and Canadian funds including Dragoneer, Lightspeed, ICONIQ, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, alongside European investor Daniel Ek.
Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein gain access to the EU's EDIP defence programme
The EEA Committee incorporated the EU's EDIP defence industry programme into the EEA Agreement, opening it to Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein; Norway's government said it would contribute around NOK 315 million from 2026.
Scaleway acquires French HPC and heat recycling specialist Qarnot
Scaleway, owned by Iliad, acquired French low carbon HPC and heat recycling specialist Qarnot, becoming the only European sovereign cloud operator offering cloud, AI and high performance computing on one platform; financial terms were not disclosed.
SAFE loan instrument pays Croatia first EUR 255 million tranche
The European Commission disbursed Croatia's first SAFE loan tranche of EUR 255 million, 15 percent of its EUR 1.7 billion allocation, following the loan agreement signed by Croatia and Commissioner Kubilius in May.
VOLT launches Dutch AI Cloud with Dell and NorthC, live from October
Dutch operator VOLT signed agreements with NorthC Datacenters, Dell Technologies and De Groot Family Office to launch the Dutch AI Cloud from Amsterdam, going live in October 2026 as a European alternative to foreign AI clouds.
QuantumDiamonds raises EUR 91 million combining equity and EU Chips Act funding
Munich's QuantumDiamonds closed EUR 91 million, EUR 15 million equity led by World Fund plus EUR 76 million non-dilutive EU Chips Act funding from Germany and Bavaria, to scale quantum sensor chip inspection production.
University of Sheffield spin-out Pixel-Flo raises GBP 5.25 million seed round
Pixel-Flo, a University of Sheffield spin-out, raised GBP 5.25 million (EUR 6.1 million) seed funding led by Northern Gritstone, with SCVC, Parkwalk and Germany's HTGF, to scale its fluidic self-assembly process for microLED display manufacturing.
Germany commissions Rheinmetall and MBDA to build a naval laser weapon
Germany's BAAINBw procurement office commissioned Rheinmetall and MBDA, working as ARGE HEL, to develop a naval laser weapon system in a contract priced in the mid three-digit million-euro range, targeting service entry by 2029.
Lissi GmbH raises EUR 3.5 million for EU digital identity wallet connector
German digital identity firm Lissi GmbH closed a EUR 3.5 million round led by pan-European investor Ventech, with Commerzbank's incubator and Hessen's state fund, to build an EU Digital Identity Wallet connector for banks ahead of new EU anti-money-laundering rules.
UK's Kraken Technology raises USD 175 million Series B led by Germany's DTCP
UK maritime defence firm Kraken Technology Group closed a USD 175 million Series B at a USD 1 billion valuation, led by Hamburg's DTCP Defence with Britain's state-owned British Business Bank, NSSIF and the NATO Innovation Fund.
European Parliament clears trilogue mandate for EU military mobility law
The European Parliament raised no objection on 8 July to opening trilogue talks on the EU military mobility regulation, which would set EU wide digital transport permits and seeks EUR 18 billion in future funding; talks with the Council begin 16 July.
Commission opens targeted consultation on safeguarding EU data sovereignty
The Commission opened a targeted consultation on EU data sovereignty, seeking evidence on third country barriers to data access and cross border transfer risks for EU organisations, open for responses until 15 September 2026 under the Data Union Strategy.
Belgian chipmaker e-peas raises USD 22 million for energy-harvesting chips
Belgian chipmaker e-peas raised USD 22 million led by Crédit Mutuel Innovation, with Belgium's SFPIM and the European Innovation Council among backers, to scale energy harvesting power management chips for battery free Ambient IoT devices.
Twelve French firms unveil Aether consortium for Strasbourg AI gigafactory
Twelve French firms led by 2CRSi and SiPearl unveiled the Aether consortium, targeting two AI gigafactory sites near Strasbourg with an initial 42 megawatts scaling toward 400 megawatts, ahead of the EU's Gigafactories call.
EU launches EUR 50 million Q-PLANET quantum chip pilot line with 28 partners
The EU backed Q-PLANET, a EUR 50 million Horizon Europe pilot line coordinated by France's Pasqal with 28 partners across 11 member states, to industrialise European-made neutral-atom quantum chip components for computing, sensing and communication.
LUMI AI Factory picks Finland's IQM to build LUMI-IQ quantum computer
Finland's LUMI AI Factory selected Finnish firm IQM to deliver the Halocene H4 quantum computer, LUMI-IQ, jointly funded by EuroHPC JU with Finland, Czechia, Norway and Poland; the initial 150 qubit system is due for delivery in 2027.
Commission refers Ireland, Spain, France and Netherlands to CJEU over NIS2 delays
The Commission referred Ireland, Spain, France and the Netherlands to the CJEU for not notifying full transposition of the NIS2 cybersecurity directive, due since 17 October 2024, and asked for a lump sum and daily penalties.
Romania, Bulgaria and Türkiye extend Black Sea mission to undersea cables
Romania's defence minister signed an amendment to the Romania Bulgaria Türkiye memorandum on the Black Sea mine countermeasures group, signed at the NATO Ankara summit, extending its mandate to protecting critical undersea infrastructure.
ArianeGroup secures long-term Ariane 6 fairing supply from Beyond Gravity
ArianeGroup signed a long term contract with Swiss supplier Beyond Gravity for 27 carbon fibre payload fairings covering Ariane 6 flights FM16 to FM42, securing a key structural component through the rocket's operational ramp up.
US firm Trust Stamp joins EU's IPCEI AST semiconductor initiative via Malta
US identity verification firm Trust Stamp's Maltese unit joined the EU's IPCEI Advanced Semiconductor Technologies programme, backed by Malta Enterprise, to co-develop a semiconductor identity platform, with the funding envelope still unset.
Proxima Fusion raises EUR 411 million in Series A2, Google joins as investor
Munich based Proxima Fusion raised EUR 411 million in a Series A2 round led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with Google and RWE as strategic investors, valuing the fusion energy company at EUR 2.4 billion.
Nordic and Canadian research networks sign MoU backing Polar Connect cable
NORDUnet, representing the five Nordic research networks, and Canada's CANARIE signed a memorandum of understanding backing Polar Connect, an Arctic subsea cable route the EU has tagged a Cable Project of European Interest.
NATO picks Saab GlobalEye over Boeing to modernise its AWACS fleet
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Sweden launched joint procurement of Sweden's Saab GlobalEye to replace part of NATO's ageing Boeing E-3 AWACS fleet.
Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway order up to five MQ-4C Triton drones
Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway announced procurement of up to five Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton surveillance drones; Airbus Defence and Space and other European firms will build the ground segment.
Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall sign MOU for European ATACMS production
Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall signed a memorandum of understanding at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum to build Europe's first ATACMS production and integration centre at Rheinmetall's Unterluss site, targeting 600 to 800 missiles a year from 2027.
Lithuania joins Poland's bid for a EuroHPC AI gigafactory
Lithuania's economy ministry, led by acting minister Edvinas Griksas, signed a joint procurement contract with Poland's digital ministry to bid together for a EuroHPC AI gigafactory, building on a January memorandum, with funding contingent on the bid winning EU financing.
France signs third strategic contract for digital infrastructure sector
France's state and five digital infrastructure federations signed a third strategic sector contract to 2030 covering networks, cables, components and data centres, naming resilience and sovereignty among six priority areas, with no funding set.
Finland, Norway and Latvia sign statement of intent on Patria TRACKX vehicle
Finland, Norway and Latvia signed a statement of intent at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum to explore joint development and procurement of Patria's EDF co funded TRACKX armoured vehicle, aiming at national serial orders from 2027.
Commission presents EU Action Plan on Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence
The Commission presented an Action Plan on Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence, aiming to curb AI enabled cyberattacks and build EU capability for AI driven cyber defence. Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen said AI "is transforming the meaning of cybersecurity."
CNRS says it cut Zoom and Microsoft Exchange for sovereign digital tools
France's CNRS said it dropped Zoom for LaSuite's Visio, moved from Microsoft Exchange to Renater's Zimbra in April saving EUR 20 million over six years, and now runs the Mistral built CNRS Emmy AI assistant with over 13,000 regular users.
NATO awards EUR 200 million cloud contract led by Accenture
NATO's communications agency awarded a EUR 200 million, seven year contract for its Protected Business Network cloud platform to Accenture, an Ireland domiciled but US linked prime, with Leonardo as partner for design, implementation and operations.
Ireland cancels up to EUR 1 billion Microsoft tender over sovereignty concerns
Ireland's Office of Government Procurement cancelled a planned EUR 750 million to EUR 1 billion Microsoft framework after an interested party raised concerns, minister Frankie Feighan told the Dáil, with a fresh tender promised "as early as feasible".
Catalonia adopts EUR 481 million budget for a sovereign public cloud
Catalonia's Executive Council approved an eight-year, EUR 481 million budget for a sovereign public cloud to host Generalitat data under EU jurisdiction, targeting SEAL 3 certification, and opened a tender with no operator yet chosen.
Germany's cabinet approves 2027 budget lifting defence spending to EUR 109.7 billion
Germany's cabinet approved a draft 2027 federal budget raising the Defence Ministry's allocation to EUR 109.7 billion, part of a path to NATO's 3.5 percent of GDP target by 2029. Finance minister Klingbeil said a balanced budget cannot defend Germany against Putin.
Finland, UK, Netherlands and Poland agree to develop joint defence financing tool
Finland, the UK, the Netherlands and Poland issued a joint statement committing to develop a new Multilateral Defence Mechanism for joint procurement financing, and to move to formal treaty talks with a view to setting it up by 2027.
ECIPE argues proportionality already works, opposes rushing IPRED reform
ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya contend IPRED already embeds proportionality and that a cited 94 percent injunction rate is misleading, urging the EU let Unified Patent Court practice mature before reform.
CEPA warns US Supreme Court ruling threatens EU-US Data Privacy Framework
CEPA's Anda Bologa warns the Trump v Slaughter ruling, letting the US president remove FTC commissioners at will, undercuts the independence underpinning the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and invites a Schrems III challenge.
RUSI's Shetler-Jones argues in CEPA that NATO First misdirects UK defence industry spending
RUSI's Philip Shetler-Jones argues in CEPA that Britain's NATO First doctrine misallocates defence resources, urging London to back the maritime and air techno-industrial base behind GCAP and AUKUS over land forces like Ajax.
NATO picks Thales and Leonardo for special forces deployable comms
NATO's communications agency selected a Thales and Leonardo consortium to build the first project of the SOFCOM programme, deployable secure communication and information systems for six special forces headquarters.
EuroHPC launches EUR 4 million Q-Neko project with Japan on quantum HPC
EuroHPC JU launched Q-Neko, a EUR 4 million Horizon Europe project pairing ten European partners including CSC, IQM and CEA with five Japanese organisations to build shared benchmarks and standards for quantum accelerated high performance computing.
Ireland unveils over EUR 100 million expansion of Tyndall chip institute
Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Minister James Lawless announced an investment of more than EUR 100 million to double Tyndall National Institute's footprint in Cork, strengthening Ireland's semiconductor and chip research capacity.
Germany's Chancellery sets up inter-ministerial AI taskforce
Germany's Chancellery set up an inter-ministerial AI taskforce led by the digital ministry BMDS, with five working groups on frontier AI, AI security, AI infrastructure, AI and society, and AI applications, meeting first on 3 July ahead of the November Digital Summit.
Commission proposes five joint defence projects worth EUR 325 million under EDIP
The Commission proposed five European Defence Projects of Common Interest under EDIP, covering drones and counter drone, maritime and seabed defence, space, air and missile defence, and Eastern Flank Watch, allocating EUR 325 million from EDIP's EUR 1.5 billion budget.
GCAP nations award GBP 4.6 billion Edgewing contract for next-generation fighter jet
The trilateral GCAP Agency (UK, Japan, Italy) awarded GBP 4.6 billion (about USD 6.1 billion) to Edgewing, the BAE Systems, Leonardo and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement joint venture, to complete concept work and begin detailed design of the next-generation fighter jet.
EU defence commissioner Kubilius calls for the EU budget to rise for war readiness
EU Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told a conference that a serious Europe should raise the EU budget to at least 2 percent of GNI now, warning it could otherwise need 12 to 15 percent of GDP in wartime.
Kongsberg wins contract to protect critical undersea infrastructure
Kongsberg (Norway) won a contract from an undisclosed international customer to supply underwater surveillance and protection technology for critical infrastructure such as subsea cables and energy installations. Contract value was not disclosed.
Isar Aerospace books first all-German satellite launch for Planet's Pelican
Isar Aerospace (Germany) will launch Planet Labs Germany's Berlin-built Pelican Earth observation satellite on its Spectrum rocket from Andøya, Norway, targeted for late 2026: Germany's first satellite and rocket both built domestically.
Ireland launches EUR 10 million AI Factory Antenna to access EU compute
Ireland launched its AI Factory Antenna in Dublin, EUR 10 million funded evenly by the EU and the Department of Further and Higher Education, giving Irish researchers, startups and SMEs gateway access to AI factory supercomputers in France and Luxembourg.
Hexonia wins German Bundeswehr order for new combat helmets
Bundeswehr Bekleidungsmanagement GmbH ordered new ballistic combat helmets from Hexonia GmbH, built with NFM Poland and NFM Technology Norway, called the largest such procurement in recent European military history.
Swiss photonics foundry CCRAFT raises USD 7.8 million to scale TFLN chip output
Neuchatel's CCRAFT, a CSEM spin-off running the world's first independent thin-film lithium niobate photonic chip foundry, raised USD 7.8 million led by QBIT Capital to expand manufacturing for AI and networking hardware.
SWP Berlin says Arctic submarine cables are central to Europe's digital sovereignty
SWP Berlin's Annegret Bendiek argues the EU's updated Arctic strategy must treat Arctic submarine cable routes, the shortest Europe-Asia link, as core to European digital sovereignty, a dimension she says current Arctic policy overlooks.
CEPA's Hidalgo Martinez says FCAS collapse leaves Spain without a sovereign fighter path
CEPA's Natalia Hidalgo Martinez writes that Germany's unilateral cancellation of the EUR 100 billion FCAS fighter programme leaves Spain without a sovereign path to a next generation jet, reduced to the F-35, GCAP, Kaan or ageing 1980s aircraft.
CEPA urges EU-wide drone traffic control, praises France's counter-drone lead
CEPA's Ronan Murphy and Marta Granados Hernandez argue Europe needs real-time drone traffic control, citing France's Remote ID rules and telecom-based counter-drone deployment as ahead of Germany and the US.
Quantum Systems raises USD 1.2 billion Series D with Airbus and Blackstone
German drone maker Quantum Systems closed a USD 1.2 billion Series D round at an USD 8 billion valuation, co led by Airbus alongside US firms Blackstone, Noteus and Advent, more than doubling its prior valuation.
EIC recommends EUR 10.4 million for Dublin's Pilot Photonics
The European Innovation Council recommended up to EUR 10.4 million in blended grant and equity funding for Dublin's Pilot Photonics to scale up manufacturing of its photonic chips, though the grant agreement is not yet signed.
IQM becomes first European quantum computer maker listed on Nasdaq
Finland's IQM Quantum Computers completed its merger with Nasdaq-listed SPAC Real Asset Acquisition Corp on 1 July and began trading as IQMX on 2 July, keeping its Finnish parent company but adding a Delaware subsidiary and SEC oversight.
Netframe CEO urges EUR 130 billion plan for European sovereign cloud
Valentin Przyluski, founder and chief executive of French infrastructure firm Netframe, argues Europe has one last window to build sovereign cloud capacity, proposing EUR 130 billion over ten years and 300 to 500 firms to reach 25 to 30 percent of the European market.
VTT hits EU Chips JU ferroelectric memory milestone to cut AI GPU reliance
VTT demonstrated wafer-uniform hafnium zirconium oxide ferroelectric memory under the EU Chips JU and Business Finland funded FAMES project (EUR 830 million total, VTT's share EUR 32 million), claiming up to 100 times AI compute efficiency gains.
Spain confirms state-majority consortium to bid for an EU AI gigafactory
Prime Minister Sánchez confirmed Spain's AI gigafactory consortium (SETT 47.99%, Telefónica, ACS and Santander 15.67% each, Multiverse Computing 4%, Catalonia 1%), backed by EUR 720 million from SETT plus EUR 300 million to EuroHPC.
Ruya Ventures closes EUR 43 million debut fund for European deep tech
London based Ruya Ventures closed an oversubscribed EUR 43 million debut fund to back pre seed deep tech founders across Europe in AI, batteries, robotics, semiconductors and novel computing, often before their companies are incorporated.
Portugal launches Amalia, its first open-source sovereign AI model
Portugal launched Amalia, an open-source large language model built on EuroLLM-9B by a university consortium coordinated by ARTE, funded with EUR 5.5 million in EU recovery funds and run on the Deucalion and MareNostrum 5 supercomputers.
Unseenlabs orders two more surveillance cubesats from Denmark's GomSpace
GomSpace (Denmark) signed a EUR 2.2 million contract (24.4 million Swedish krona) to build two 8U cubesats for Unseenlabs (France), extending its maritime radio frequency detection constellation, with delivery due in 2027.
EDRi says Digital Euro must embed privacy technically or risk rejection
EDRi published a guest piece by member epicenter.works arguing the digital euro must build in technical privacy tools such as zero-knowledge proofs and threshold cryptography, warning that ECON Committee gains on privacy safeguards must survive the remaining legislative stages.
EDRi says EU's AI billions lack tracking, calls for transparent public ledger
EDRi publishes an Open Future analysis arguing the EU's cited EUR 200 billion in AI investment conflates budgets, guarantees and private targets, with no standardised tracking or disclosure of end beneficiaries, undermining scrutiny of public AI funding.
CEPA: reliance on US frontier AI leaves European governments at Washington's mercy
CEPA fellow Elly Rostoum writes that Washington's order forcing Anthropic to cut Fable 5 and Mythos 5 access for all foreign users, Europeans included, shows building on American frontier AI leaves allied governments at the mercy of a US-controlled dependency.
CCIA says 79 percent of EU tech founders hobbled by regulatory friction
CCIA Europe's Daniel Friedlaender said its survey found 79 percent of EU tech founders hit by regulatory friction, with a quarter spending over 30 percent of budgets on compliance, as Digital Omnibus talks stall.
German procurement law adds digital sovereignty as tender criterion from July
Germany's amended Section 128 GWB, in force from 1 July 2026, explicitly lists "digitale Souveränität" alongside security of supply as a criterion public buyers may weigh when awarding contracts, including for cloud and IT services.
EURO-3C: EU contracts EUR 18,809,875 to 5 organisations on the map
EUROpean 3C Networks for Secure Telco-Cloud-Edge (EURO-3C) started 2026-07-01 with status signed. EUR 18,809,875 of EU contribution is contracted to 5 organisations this publication tracks: Connectivity & subsea; IONOS, StackIT, Open Telekom Cloud; Nokia / Ericsson; OVHcloud; SUSE.
UK Export Finance launches GBP 50 billion Defence Export Fund
UK Export Finance launched a GBP 50 billion Defence Export Fund, lifting its total lending and guarantee capacity to GBP 130 billion, to guarantee loans for British defence exporters and finance overseas buyers of UK defence products.
CEPA fellow urges pragmatic digital sovereignty over costly decoupling
CEPA fellow William Echikson argues Europe should pursue pragmatic digital sovereignty, building on strengths in lithography, chemicals and industrial data rather than costly decoupling from US and Asian technology.
CEPA urges Europe to buy Ukraine's Flamingo missile to close strike capability gap
CEPA's David Axe argues Europe should buy Ukraine's Fire Point FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, priced near USD 500,000 against a Tomahawk's over USD 2 million, to close its deep strike gap after Washington cancelled Typhon-Tomahawk deployment to Germany, rather than wait years for domestic missiles.
UK unveils Defence Investment Plan with GBP 15 billion armed forces boost
The UK government unveiled its Defence Investment Plan on 30 June, adding GBP 15 billion to the armed forces, GBP 8.6 billion to the GCAP fighter programme with Italy and Japan, and a new GBP 50 billion UKEF defence export fund.
Gaussion raises EUR 24.5 million to scale data centre and EV power tech
London-based Gaussion, a UCL and Faraday Institution spinout, raised EUR 24.5 million co-led by BGF and AlbionVC, taking total funding past EUR 38 million, to scale its MagLiB power-retrofit hardware for EVs, drones and data-centre backup power.
Four European cloud operators adopt CISPE's sovereignty certification framework
ETIX, PHOCEA DC, Thesee Datacenter and Gigas self certified under CISPE's Sovereign and Resilient Cloud Service Certification, displaying its Declared badge for six months pending independent audits covering servers through to shareholding.
ECIPE paper says Digital Fairness Act could cost EUR 29 billion a year
ECIPE occasional paper by Hosuk Lee-Makiyama and Claudia Lozano argues the EU's proposed Digital Fairness Act would cost EUR 10 billion to EUR 29 billion a year, above the Commission's own EUR 7.9 billion harm estimate, and would favour large platforms over regional media.
ECIPE argues DMA-style ex ante rules are premature for AI markets
ECIPE director Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya argue in an ECIPE insight that applying the DMA's ex ante gatekeeper regime to AI is premature, since no AI gatekeeper has emerged, and urge monitoring and targeted remedies over broad new rules.
ECIPE insight warns AI market gatekeeping evades all current EU rules
ECIPE insight by Heidi Lund (National Board of Trade Sweden) argues AI's cumulative effect on market visibility and discoverability, not individual system harms, is a gatekeeping risk that EU competition, digital and AI rules all miss and fail to govern.
Spain's SETT invests EUR 115.8 million in chip designer Openchip
Spain's Council of Ministers authorised SETT to make a EUR 115.8 million equity investment, via the Recovery Plan's Next Tech facility, in Catalan firm Openchip to scale its high-performance, energy-efficient AI and HPC chip design.
Romania selects Israeli Rafael's SPYDER over European bids for air defence
Romania's Ministry of National Defense selected Israel's Rafael to supply the SPYDER air defence system on 29 June, in a framework deal worth more than EUR 2 billion, rejecting rival bids from France's MBDA and Germany's Diehl.
CISPE welcomes DMA cloud gatekeeper findings but warns Google's omission distorts market
CISPE welcomed the Commission's 25 June provisional finding that AWS and Azure are DMA gatekeepers, the first time cloud has been covered, but said excluding Google Cloud, despite its scale and Gemini's growth to near 750 million users, keeps an unfair advantage in place.
CEPA's Lewis says EU tech sovereignty is wishful thinking, backs US partnership
CEPA fellow James Lewis wrote that EU tech sovereignty is not achievable soon given fragmented governance, cost and time, and argued a transatlantic tech partnership with the United States is the more realistic route to European tech independence.
CCIA Europe tells EU copyright review not to fragment AI training rules
CCIA Europe filed a formal response to the Commission's call for evidence on a targeted copyright initiative, arguing the 2019 Copyright Directive's text and data mining rules underpin the EU's AI ecosystem and should not be fragmented by member state licensing regimes.
Portugal commits EUR 200 million to Iberian EuroHPC AI gigafactory bid
Portugal's Council of Ministers approved up to EUR 200 million to buy computing time in a joint Iberian bid, with Spain, for a EuroHPC AI gigafactory, matched by EuroHPC for EUR 400 million in first phase capital.
Bundestag clears EUR 7.2 billion for Germany to buy 40 percent KNDS stake
The Bundestag's Budget Committee cleared up to EUR 7.2 billion on 26 June for Germany, via KfW, to buy a 40 percent KNDS stake, matching France's reduced 40 percent holding ahead of a planned Paris and Frankfurt dual listing.
Romania joins new NATO-linked Defence, Security and Resilience Bank
Romania joined Canada, Luxembourg and other partners as a founding member of the new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, declared on the margins of the NATO summit in Ankara on 25 June 2026 to finance defence and resilience projects.
Openchip and SUSE agree sovereign European RISC-V software stack
Germany's SUSE and Spain's Openchip signed a memorandum of understanding to optimise SUSE Linux, Rancher and SUSE AI Factory for Openchip's forthcoming RISC-V accelerators, aiming for an all European hardware and open source software stack.
Austria's Eustella launches sovereign AI agent app on EU cloud
Austrian venture Eustella launched its consumer AI agent app on 25 June 2026, hosted on IONOS Cloud in the EU and built on open weight models including Mistral, positioning itself as a European alternative to US assistants for consumers.
EuroHPC opens access to four European quantum computers
EuroHPC JU opened access to four of its quantum computers, Euro-Q-Exa, Lucy, Piast-Q and VLQ, letting European researchers, public bodies and industry apply for compute time ahead of a first cut off on 1 August 2026.
EU breaks ground on permanent GOVSATCOM hub site in Cologne
The Commission, EUSPA and Germany broke ground on the permanent GOVSATCOM hub in Cologne, one of two sites replacing the interim hub that has linked EU and national authorities to pooled secure satellite capacity since January 2026.
EU Commission takes preliminary view AWS, Azure should be DMA gatekeepers
European Commission tells Amazon and Microsoft it takes the preliminary view their AWS and Azure cloud services should be designated DMA gatekeepers, citing entrenched EU market lead, lock-in and bundled AI tools; both firms may contest before a final ruling.
DigitalEurope, SECIMAVI and AFNUM say Digital Omnibus must aid investment
DigitalEurope's Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, SECIMAVI's Jean-Marie Le Guen and AFNUM's Stella Morabito say the Digital Omnibus must simplify GDPR, AI and cybersecurity rules to help close Draghi's EUR 800 billion investment gap.
DigitalEurope, Adigital and AMETIC say EU digital rules must serve Spain's economy
DigitalEurope's Bonefeld-Dahl, Adigital's Tello and AMETIC's Garcia argue in a joint article that EU digital rules must simplify, not add layers, for Spain's economy, where digital is 27% of GDP.
Rheinmetall and GEK Terna sign Greek defence industrial partnership
Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Greece's GEK Terna signed a binding Strategic Framework Agreement on 24 June 2026 covering tactical land systems and lifecycle support for the Hellenic Armed Forces, building sovereign Greek maintenance and production capacity.
Poland orders 46,000 SAFE-financed Grot A3 rifles from domestic maker Lucznik
Poland's Armaments Agency signed a contract with domestic maker Fabryka Broni Lucznik on 24 June 2026 for 46,000 Grot A3 rifles (up to 100,000 with an annex), worth about PLN 600 million (EUR 140 million), financed through the EU's SAFE loan.
Germany's cabinet eases data centre rules under energy efficiency law
Germany's cabinet adopts a bill easing the Energieeffizienzgesetz, pushing data centres' renewable balancing deadline from 2027 to 2030 and raising the energy management certification threshold, projecting EUR 760 million a year in industry savings.
Bulgaria's cabinet approves EUR 3.26 billion SAFE defence loan agreement
Bulgaria's Council of Ministers approved a EUR 3.26 billion SAFE loan and operational arrangement with the European Commission, funding nine armed forces development projects, pending parliamentary ratification.
CISPE says Broadcom's VMware Cloud Foundation is not sovereign cloud
CISPE director general Francisco Mingorance says Broadcom's VMware Cloud Foundation is not sovereign despite its marketing, citing US CLOUD Act exposure, sole control of patches, and a 180 day compliance report he calls a kill switch.
CEPA fellows argue Ukraine should be founding member of new European defence pact
CEPA fellow Elena Davlikanova and retired Lieutenant General Arne Bard Dalhaug argue any new European defence architecture must include Ukraine, saying a framework built without its combat tested military and industrial base leaves European deterrence of Russia weaker.
Lithuania receives first EUR 956.3 million payment under EU's SAFE fund
The European Commission disbursed Lithuania's first SAFE payment of EUR 956.3 million on 24 June, 15 percent of its EUR 6.4 billion total allocation under the EU's joint defence procurement loan instrument.
ERC awards EUR 838 million in Advanced Grants to 319 researchers
The European Research Council awarded EUR 838 million in Advanced Grants to 319 senior researchers across Europe, including thirteen recruited from outside Europe under its Choose Europe scheme, nine of them from the United States.
DIGITAL SME Alliance calls for EU-wide sovereignty-linked SME digitalisation vouchers
DIGITAL SME Alliance argues public support for SME digitalisation also builds technological sovereignty, citing EUR 48.2 billion in EU digitalisation investment and Spain's 937,000-voucher Kit Digital scheme, and proposes an EU-wide voucher scheme carrying sovereignty eligibility criteria.
Civil society coalition launches digital Europe demands with Zuboff and Benifei
A coalition including EDRi, Ada Lovelace Institute, ARTICLE 19, BEUC, Greenpeace and DuckDuckGo, with Shoshana Zuboff and MEP Brando Benifei, launched "Make It Real" demands at a Brussels summit, calling the EU's tech sovereignty package built for corporations, not people.
DigitalEurope urges phased EU-US cybersecurity mutual recognition deal
DigitalEurope calls a phased EU-US cyber mutual recognition agreement the flagship near-term deliverable, urging a first tranche on product conformity assessment building on the 1998 EU-US MRA.
Stark Defence raises EUR 500 million led by Sequoia and Founders Fund
Stark, the German loitering munition and autonomous systems maker, raised EUR 500 million led by Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund, valuing it above EUR 3.5 billion, with over 80 percent earmarked for European R&D and manufacturing.
Two new EuroHPC systems join TOP500 as JUPITER stays fifth
EuroHPC's DAEDALUS in Greece, at 85.69 petaflops, and Arrhenius in Sweden, at 66.82 petaflops, entered the TOP500 ranking, while JUPITER held fifth place globally among the world's fastest supercomputers.
EU funds first submarine cable hubs and opens EUR 40 million repair call
The European Commission granted EUR 5.8 million to launch the first two Regional Cable Hubs, in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas, and opened a separate EUR 40 million Connecting Europe Facility call for cable repair capacity.
EU clears EUR 76 million German aid for Munich chip test facility
The European Commission approved EUR 76 million in German state aid, under Chips Act principles, for QuantumDiamonds GmbH to build a Munich production facility for quantum-sensor-based semiconductor test and inspection systems.
UK's Seedcamp closes USD 320 million Fund VII for European deep tech
UK based venture firm Seedcamp closed its largest fund on 22 June 2026, raising USD 320 million (about EUR 295 million) across a USD 220 million Fund VII and a USD 100 million follow on vehicle, with physical AI among its stated deep tech priorities.
Dutch Nearfield Instruments raises USD 380 million Series D for chip tools
Dutch chip metrology maker Nearfield Instruments raised USD 380 million (about EUR 335 million) at a USD 1.6 billion valuation, in a Series D led by US and Singapore investors Fidelity, Temasek and Walden Catalyst, to scale inspection tools.
Czech government pledges CZK 2.5 billion for AI Gigafactory bid
The Czech cabinet approved backing for a national AI Gigafactory bid on 22 June 2026, pledging CZK 2.5 billion (about EUR 102 million) to match EU funding and authorising the industry ministry to sign a joint procurement agreement with EuroHPC.
DigitalEurope paper proposes mutual recognition to fix fragmented EU defence IT
DigitalEurope's paper on cross border defence digital systems argues Europe can keep national sovereignty over sensitive data while cutting duplicate accreditation, proposing mutual recognition of certified systems and accreditation timelines of 60 to 90 days for routine approvals.
NVIDIA says 35 AI supercomputers are being built across Europe
NVIDIA said 35 AI supercomputers built on its hardware are in development across 23 European countries, owned and operated by national HPC centres and the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, part of 800 AI exaflops deployed or announced.
Latvia signs EUR 3.5 billion SAFE defence loan agreement with EU
Latvia signed a EUR 3.5 billion SAFE loan with the EU, with Commissioner Kubilius and Latvia's prime minister present, to fund drones, guided missiles and anti-drone systems; a first tranche of EUR 524.7 million is expected within weeks.
Germany funds Quantum Systems-Tencore joint venture to build 2,000 UGVs
Germany's Ministry of Defence funded Quantum Tencore Industries, the German-Ukrainian venture of Quantum Systems and Tencore, to build 2,000 TerMIT ground robots in Germany within 12 months for Ukraine's forces, described as Europe's largest known UGV procurement.
Naval Group, Mesko and Telesystem agree Piorun-Rampart sea firing trials
France's Naval Group and Poland's Mesko and Telesystem signed an agreement on 19 June 2026 to demonstrate Mesko's Piorun missile fired from Naval Group's Rampart launcher, a first step toward an integrated European counter-drone solution.
France mobilises EUR 13 billion in Tibi phase 3 for sovereign tech
France's finance ministry launched Tibi phase 3 at VivaTech on 19 June 2026, mobilising EUR 13 billion in commitments from about 40 institutional investors, including new entrants SNCF, Naval Group and MBDA, with half earmarked for AI, quantum, biotech and space deep tech.
DigitalEurope and ZVEI say Digital Omnibus still misses the mark on Data Act
DigitalEurope's Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl and ZVEI's Sarah Baumchen wrote that the Digital Omnibus, as the Cypriot presidency pushes it to a close, still forces manufacturers to share trade secret data with rivals and leaves GDPR compliance costs near EUR 1.5 million a year per firm.
EU Commission picks Domyn-led EUROPA consortium to build open frontier AI model
The European Commission named the Domyn-led EUROPA consortium, including Fraunhofer, winner of its Frontier AI Grand Challenge to build an open-source frontier AI model with over 400 billion parameters trained in all 24 EU languages.
Cyprus receives first EUR 177.2 million payment under EU's SAFE fund
Cyprus received its first SAFE payment of EUR 177.2 million, 15 percent of its EUR 1.2 billion allocation under the EU's defence loan instrument, the Commission said.
CCIA Europe says DMA rules would trap generative AI in a taxonomy trap
CCIA Europe published a study arguing that fitting generative AI, a general purpose technology, into the DMA's fixed service categories would create a "taxonomy trap", and urged regulators to police AI markets through ordinary competition law instead.
US-owned GDELS agrees to buy Faurecia's Augsburg plant from FORVIA
General Dynamics European Land Systems, the European arm of the US defence group, agreed to buy FORVIA's Augsburg exhaust systems plant and around 300 staff, converting it into GDELS' largest German site and a hub for EAGLE and PIRANHA military vehicles.
German Soofi consortium unveils sovereign industrial AI model Soofi S
The German-led Soofi consortium unveiled Soofi S, a 30 billion parameter sovereign foundation model for industrial AI built under the EU-backed 8ra initiative. Benchmarks show it matches or beats comparable international models in German and English.
OVHcloud to build its own frontier AI models, targeting Mistral's turf
OVHcloud chief executive Octave Klaba told Reuters at VivaTech that the French cloud group will train its own frontier AI models, using its DragonLLM purchase and Europe's Jupiter supercomputer, at a cost now near EUR 150 million to EUR 200 million, down from about EUR 1 billion.
Poland's Microamp wins EUR 6.5 million EU grant for 5G/6G platform
Warsaw's Microamp secured EUR 6.5 million from the EU's EIC Accelerator programme, a EUR 2.5 million grant plus EUR 4 million equity, to develop its Any-G mmWave 5G and 6G wireless platform, designed and built entirely in Europe.
Leonardo and UAE's EDGE Group form defence sensors joint venture
Italy's Leonardo and Abu Dhabi's EDGE Group formed a joint venture on airborne radars, the Kronos Grand HP radar and combat management systems, with several hundred million euros of contracts secured and a pipeline above EUR 4 billion over five years.
Indra and Rheinmetall agree to integrate NEMUS radar into StrikeShield APS
Indra Group signed an agreement with Rheinmetall to integrate its NEMUS AESA radar into the StrikeShield active protection system, positioning the Spanish-German pairing for Europe's FAMOUS and MARTE armoured vehicle programmes and EDA's DARTBRAKER project.
France signs EUR 15.1 billion SAFE loan agreement with European Commission
France and the European Commission signed a EUR 15.1 billion SAFE loan on 17 June 2026, with ministers Vautrin and Lescure and Commissioners Kubilius and Serafin funding 29 joint weapons and six research and space projects.
France and Germany launch joint digital sovereignty forum at VivaTech
At VivaTech, French minister Anne Le Hénanff and German minister Karsten Wildberger unveiled a joint position paper defining digital sovereignty and launched the Forum franco-allemand pour le futur to catalogue sovereign digital solutions and dependencies.