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This is the daily record across four areas, with the voices' opinions marked as opinion. Every item is graded Verified or Reported and states what it does not test, and the weekly email and the monthly issue are drawn from it.

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CEPA's Hoffmann surveys Europe's push to build cruise missiles free of US parts CEPA fellow Fabian Hoffmann surveys Europe's cruise missile push: Destinus's Ruta Block 2 for Ukraine, MBDA's Land Cruise Missile due for order in 2029 and Germany's Kongsberg Joint Strike Missile buys, arguing these programmes cut reliance on US systems. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Macron adds EUR1 billion to France's national quantum strategy via France 2030 President Macron announced an immediate EUR1 billion top-up to France's national quantum strategy through the France 2030 programme, alongside a EUR550 million pledge toward a future EU semiconductor IPCEI not yet approved by Brussels. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Virkkunen says tech sovereignty is about capacity, not isolation EU tech sovereignty chief Henna Virkkunen told Euronews that sovereignty "doesn't mean... work somehow in isolation," but means holding critical capacity, cutting risky dependencies, and using public procurement to boost homegrown European technologies. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionEditor-read ECIPE paper says EU copyright rules constrain AI training data access ECIPE's Oscar Guinea, Dyuti Pandya and Vanika Sharma argue the EU's restrictive copyright framework for AI training data undercuts competitiveness across automotive, pharma and finance, and hits startups harder than large incumbents. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA fellow presses for transatlantic action on chips reaching Russia CEPA's Christopher Cytera argues Western semiconductors keep reaching Russian weapons via diversion through Turkey, the UAE and Central Asia, and calls for a shared high risk component database and a joint sanctions evasion task force targeting transit hubs. Policy and lawDefence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted European Commission signs EUR 16.68 billion SAFE loan agreement with Romania Romania and the European Commission concluded a SAFE loan agreement worth EUR 16.68 billion, the second largest under the instrument after Poland, financing defence procurement, security infrastructure and strategic road links to Moldova. Defence and spacePolicy and law ReportedAI-drafted Infineon launches EUR91 million EU project Moore4Power for power chiplets Infineon led the launch of Moore4Power, a EUR91 million, three-year Chips Joint Undertaking project with 62 partners across 15 European countries, developing silicon, silicon carbide and gallium nitride power chiplets for wind, e-mobility and rail. Industry, investment and R&D ReportedAI-drafted Germany awards sovereign AI cloud contract worth nearly EUR 250 million to T-Systems and SVA consortia Germany’s digital ministry BMDS awarded its sovereign AI cloud platform, with a total volume of just under EUR 250 million, to a consortium around T-Systems as first-placed bidder and a consortium around SVA as second-placed bidder. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Sánchez: dependence on Starlink is 'servitude', pledges Spain's Iris2 funding programme At Madrid's Space Congress, Spain's PM Pedro Sánchez said dependence on one satellite provider, as with Ukraine, is not dependence but 'servitude, or even worse, slavery', and pledged a programme this year to help fund Iris2. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionEditor-read EuroHPC funds EuroTPC project giving Europe a seat in global AI consortium EuroHPC Joint Undertaking committed EUR 1.5 million in Horizon Europe funding to EuroTPC, a three year project led by Barcelona Supercomputing Center giving Europe formal representation in the international Trillion Parameter Consortium for open AI models in science. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted ESA and Spain sign pact making Madrid lead nation for IRIS2's Low-LEO layer ESA's Josef Aschbacher and Spain's minister Diana Morant signed a Memorandum of Intent making Spain the main contributor to IRIS2's Low-LEO layer, with a dedicated project team hosted in Spain to lead that element of the EU's secure connectivity constellation. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Ardian, Bull, EDF, Orange and Scaleway form AION bid for AI gigafactory Ardian, Artefact, Bull, Capgemini, EDF, the iliad Group, Orange and Scaleway formed the AION consortium, bidding for a French site in the EU's AI Gigafactory programme so European firms can train and run AI models under sovereign conditions. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EDRi study finds EU Law Enforcement Directive implementation still patchy An EDRi commissioned study of Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece and Slovenia finds that eight years on, transposition and practice under the EU's Law Enforcement Directive remain fragmented, with gaps in data subject rights and oversight of new technologies. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted Thales to launch Thales-owned sovereign cloud entity in Germany Thales announced a new German sovereign cloud entity, wholly owned and controlled by Thales under German law with Google Cloud as technology licensor only, mirroring its French S3NS model; general availability is targeted for end of 2026. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EU clears EUR288 million German state aid for Zeiss and Zadient chip plants The European Commission approved EUR288 million in German state aid under the Chips Act: EUR222 million for Carl Zeiss to build EUV optics in Oberkochen and EUR66 million for Zadient Materials to make silicon carbide source material in Bitterfeld. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Germany tells Bundestag its P20 police data programme favours sovereign EU tools Germany's government told the Bundestag its joint P20 police data house prioritises open source and sovereign European tools over foreign vendors; Rheinland-Pfalz already feeds in data, BKA migrates from late 2026, full rollout due 2030, easing reliance on Palantir's Gotham. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedEditor-read European Parliament approves mandatory FDI screening for defence, AI and chips MEPs voted 508 to 64, with 90 abstentions, to make screening of foreign investment in defence, semiconductors, AI and critical raw materials mandatory EU-wide, closing gaps in the 2019 regime. Council approval and an 18-month delay before entry into force still follow. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedEditor-read Parliament and Council agree 60-day fast-track permits for EU defence projects Parliament's SEDE committee and the Cypriot Council presidency provisionally agreed on two of the Defence Omnibus's three pillars, setting a fast-track authorisation regime that cuts defence project permitting to sixty days EU-wide, plus eased EDF and cross-border transfer rules. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedEditor-read DigitalEurope urges fast EU-US trade deal adoption, wider Digital Dialogue DigitalEurope called on the EU to adopt the Turnberry EU-US trade agreement without delay and to widen the planned EU-US Digital Dialogue 2 beyond narrow issues to cover critical and dual use technologies, connectivity, energy tech, cybersecurity and supply chain resilience. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted UK awards GBP 4 million in fast track contracts to 13 domestic defence tech firms The UK Ministry of Defence awarded contracts worth up to GBP 4 million combined to 13 British firms under its Commercial X fast track route, covering quantum sensing, autonomous systems, secure communications and space manufacturing. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted France launches national survey of companies' dependence on foreign tech Ministers Anne Le Henanff and Clement Beaune launched a national diagnostic survey of French companies' dependence on non-European cloud, data, AI and cybersecurity tools, open until 12 June, with results due after summer to guide public buying policy. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ICEYE hands over Poland's POLSARIS radar satellite system, run by new agency ARGUS ICEYE handed the Polish Armed Forces its MikroSAR radar satellite system, four satellites under a EUR200 million 2025 contract, forming the POLSARIS constellation operated by Poland's new ARGUS reconnaissance agency, ground segment built by Polish firm WZŁ. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Sweden takes ownership of its first satellite, built and launched by Planet Labs Planet Labs said the Swedish Armed Forces took ownership of its first satellite, a Pelican spacecraft built and launched by the US firm under a January 2026 deal, with first light imagery received days after its 3 May launch. Defence and space VerifiedEditor-read Dublin's Lios renews ESA contract to scale European rocket fairing acoustic panels Dublin acoustic-materials firm Lios renewed its ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme contract for nearly EUR 2 million, funding a two-year push to scale manufacture of its SoundBounce fairing acoustic-protection panels and run flight qualification testing. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedEditor-read CISPE accuses Broadcom of double standards and delay in EU antitrust case CISPE accused Broadcom of seeking US privilege protection for its own correspondence while demanding disclosure of CISPE members' confidential filings in the EU probe of its VMware acquisition, calling it a calculated delaying tactic. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted HMRC awards UK firm Quantexa a GBP175 million, ten-year sovereign AI contract Britain's tax authority HMRC signed a ten-year, GBP175 million deal with London based Quantexa to build a sovereign, governed AI and data platform for fraud detection and the tax gap, keeping data and processing inside HMRC's own environment. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Croatia signs EUR 1.7 billion SAFE loan agreement with the EU for defence Croatia's deputy prime ministers Ivan Anusic and Tomislav Coric signed a SAFE loan agreement worth up to EUR 1.7 billion with EU Commissioner Andrius Kubilius at Banski Dvori, financing future defence procurement under the EU instrument. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Romanian Senate panel rushes approval of SAFE deal with German supplier Romania's Senate defence committee, chaired by Nicoleta Pauliuc, approved a SAFE funded deal with a German supplier on 13 May 2026 with under 24 hours' notice, as the PSD alleged influence peddling and an undisclosed conflict of interest. Defence and spacePolicy and law ReportedEditor-read European Defence Fund awards Navantia-led consortium EUR146 million for four naval projects Navantia said the European Defence Fund awarded EUR146 million combined across four naval projects it takes part in, including its own E-DOMINION programme to build a reference architecture and Naval Combat Cloud for European naval sovereignty. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedEditor-read MEPs and Digital SME Alliance launch Democratic Tech Alliance for sovereign tech On 13 May 2026, MEPs from Renew, EPP, S&D and the Greens/EFA joined European DIGITAL SME Alliance and civil society groups to launch the Democratic Tech Alliance in Brussels, pledging to steer EU procurement toward sovereign, democratic technology. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE paper puts economic cost of revised Product Liability Directive ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon, Oscar Guinea and Philipp Lamprecht estimate the revised Product Liability Directive, which extends liability to software and AI, cuts EU GDP by 0.17 to 0.24 percent and imports by up to EUR 36.5 million a year through a reversed burden of proof and higher insurance costs. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted DigitalEurope paper proposes fixes to EU cybersecurity certification rules DigitalEurope's position paper on the revised Cybersecurity Act called for certification schemes to stay voluntary, for ENISA to act as a coordinating hub for impact assessments, for supply chain checks only where risks cannot be mitigated by existing rules, and for stricter NIS2 harmonisation. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted Germany's BfV picks French ChapsVision platform over US Palantir Investigative reporting found Germany's domestic intelligence agency BfV selected ChapsVision's ArgonOS data fusion platform over Palantir, citing US Cloud Act exposure; contract value is undisclosed and full deployment awaits a legal powers reform. Compute and infrastructure ReportedAI-drafted Ribera calls for European public digital infrastructure ahead of sovereignty package Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera told an S&D conference the EU must build its own public digital infrastructure and core technologies, saying the coming tech sovereignty package should boost European chip output and triple EU cloud capacity. Policy and law ReportedOpinionEditor-read France Datacenter and iliad hand government 19 proposals to speed data centre build-out France Datacenter and Groupe iliad, co-chairing a government working group on digital electrification, gave Digital Minister Anne Le Henanff 19 proposals on 12 May 2026: PIINM status for strategic data centres, first-connected-first-served grid access and aligned electricity taxation. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedEditor-read EU defence ministers endorse three-year plan to strengthen European Defence Agency EU defence ministers meeting as EDA's Steering Board endorsed a three year roadmap strengthening the agency's role in collaborative procurement, innovation and capability development, with targeted recruitment starting in June 2026. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted ECIPE warns DMA's Android AI interoperability rule could recentralise the OS ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya argue the Commission's DMA interoperability mandate for Android AI assistants, requiring equal access to microphone, screen and cross app control, may force Google to centralise Android rather than open it. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA fellows say DMA's first two years fell short of its aims CEPA's Anda Bologa and William Echikson argue the Digital Markets Act, two years in, has not delivered meaningful competition gains, instead prompting legal conflict, and that US courts have proved more effective than EU regulators at compelling change from Big Tech. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Thales and ArianeGroup conduct first successful firing of FLP-t 150 strike weapon Thales and ArianeGroup conducted the first successful firing of the FLP-t 150 long range strike munition, a French sovereign system exceeding 150 kilometres range designed to keep terminal guidance under GNSS jamming, replacing the LRU rocket. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Cyfronet inaugurates Gaia AI supercomputer in Kraków, EU and Poland fund it Cyfronet AGH inaugurated the Gaia AI Factory in Kraków, a roughly EUR 70 million system with over 1,000 GPU accelerators, funded equally by Poland's government and the EU's EuroHPC Joint Undertaking; full operation is due in 2027. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Rheinmetall and Deutsche Telekom to build a joint drone defence shield Rheinmetall and Deutsche Telekom agreed to jointly develop a shield against drones and sabotage for German critical infrastructure, pairing Telekom's sensors with Rheinmetall's Skyranger and laser counter-drone systems. Defence and space VerifiedEditor-read Norway's NTNU joins Italian led EU defence project for autonomous battlefield evacuation Norway's NTNU joins the European Defence Fund funded SALUBRIS project, led by Italy's IDV (Iveco Defence Vehicles) with Norway's Maritime Robotics and Biodrone, building autonomous multi domain swarms for casualty evacuation and sensor fused triage. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space ReportedEditor-read Dassault Aviation and OHB team up to bid VORTEX-S spaceplane to ESA Dassault Aviation and OHB agreed to jointly bid the VORTEX-S reusable spaceplane to ESA, Dassault as prime architect, OHB building the service module, Trappier says the aim is to strengthen Europe's own space capabilities. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted SWP Berlin paper urges Europe prioritise satellite resilience over anti-satellite arms SWP Berlin's Juliana Süß argues Europe should build resilient, redundant satellite systems rather than anti-satellite weapons, citing weekly Russian jamming and a February 2026 SIGINT operation against Bundeswehr satellites, and points to IRIS2 and SatComBw4. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted ECIPE says EU can defend Cybersecurity Act against China's WTO complaint ECIPE's Hosuk Lee-Makiyama argues the EU can defend its revised Cybersecurity Act against China's WTO objections under the public morals exception, framed around judicial redress that Chinese law structurally excludes for national security cases. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted Eindhoven sensor startup eyeo raises EUR40 million Series A from European investors eyeo, an imec spinout based in Eindhoven with an Antwerp design centre, raised a EUR40 million Series A led by Innovation Industries, an all European syndicate, to build a chip design team and scale its nanophotonic colour splitting image sensor. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Algorithmiq raises EUR18 million and moves headquarters from Helsinki to Milan Quantum software firm Algorithmiq raised a EUR18 million round led by United Ventures, with Italy's state investment bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti joining, and relocated its global headquarters from Helsinki to Milan while keeping Finnish operations. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Lithuania signs EUR 6.4 billion SAFE loan agreement with the EU for defence Lithuania's defence and finance ministers signed a SAFE loan agreement worth EUR 6,375,487,000 with EU commissioners Kubilius and Serafin, financing national division defence needs over a 45 year term with a 10 year grace period. Defence and spacePolicy and law ReportedAI-drafted Romania adopts ordinance letting state seize control of strategic defence firms Romania's government adopted Emergency Ordinance 38/2026 on 4 May 2026, in force from its 8 May publication, letting the state take stakes in or expropriate assets of defence firms declared strategic and fast track related site approvals, as it moves to spend its SAFE loan on domestic industry. Policy and lawDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Munich's new coalition agreement makes open source the procurement default Munich's new "Mango" coalition (Greens/Rosa Liste, SPD, FDP/Free Voters), governing to 2032, agreed to make open source the default for municipal software procurement under a "Public Money, Public Code" principle, strengthening its Open Source Program Office. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedEditor-read OpenForum Europe letter urges von der Leyen to fund EU Sovereign Tech Fund OpenForum Europe published a joint letter signed by 50 organisations, including Red Hat, SUSE, Mozilla and Mercedes-Benz, urging von der Leyen to back an EU Sovereign Tech Fund for open source maintenance, proposing at least EUR350 million over seven years in the 2028 to 2034 MFF. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted Poland signs EUR 43.7 billion SAFE loan agreement with the EU, first to do so Poland became the first EU country to sign a loan agreement under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument, worth EUR 43.7 billion, signed in Warsaw by Polish ministers and Commissioners Piotr Serafin and Andrius Kubilius to fund defence modernisation. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedAI-drafted Vodafone and AWS sign multi-year deal for sovereign cloud in Germany Vodafone signed a multi-year agreement with AWS to resell and integrate the AWS European Sovereign Cloud region in Brandenburg for German enterprise and public-sector customers, using its Skaylink unit for migration support. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted SiPearl and Semidynamics ally on EU sovereign rack scale AI compute platform Semidynamics and SiPearl announced a strategic cooperation combining SiPearl's Arm based Rhea CPU with Semidynamics' RISC-V AI inference accelerator into an EU sovereign rack scale AI compute platform aimed at EU AI Factory procurement. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Cross-party group of 30 MEPs launches European Defence Union initiative More than 30 MEPs from the EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA and Volt groups launched a cross-party initiative pushing for joint EU defence procurement, a genuine defence market and a stronger European pillar in NATO, rejecting Mark Rutte's doubts about European self-defence. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedEditor-read Bundestag committee adopts digital sovereignty strategy, leaves vendor choice open Germany's Bundestag IT and Digitalisation Commission unanimously adopted a digital strategy for the 21st term: it keeps a Microsoft or Nextcloud choice, watches German providers Delos and Stackit, and sets a pre summer deadline to pick one AI tool for 1,000 to 1,500 users. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read EDRi urges lawmakers reject AI Omnibus rollback of AI Act safeguards EDRi and partner organisations argue the AI Omnibus deal EU institutions sealed on 7 May, framed as technical simplification, delays protections for high risk AI systems, cuts transparency duties and sets a precedent for reopening adopted digital rights law. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted DigitalEurope hails AI Omnibus machinery fix but says medtech excluded DigitalEurope welcomed the AI Omnibus moving machinery to Annex I Section B, avoiding duplicate AI Act checks and saving SMEs about EUR 600,000 in year one costs, but said the deal excludes medical devices, leaving medtech under overlapping AI Act and MDR rules. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CCIA Europe says sealed AI Omnibus deal falls short of simplification CCIA Europe's Boniface de Champris says EU negotiators' sealed AI Omnibus deal, which extends some AI Act compliance deadlines, rejected dropping non-high-risk system registration and left no grace period for generative AI labelling due by 2 August. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted German Earth-observation firm LiveEO raises EUR28 million for defence pivot German Earth-observation firm LiveEO raised EUR28 million in a first closing led by new defence investor Helantic, to scale what it called sovereign, independent geospatial intelligence for infrastructure protection and defence. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted BT and STACKIT partner to open external access to Germany's sovereign cloud BT International and Schwarz Digits' STACKIT partnered so BT's Global Fabric network carries connectivity into STACKIT's EU based sovereign cloud, letting non-EU multinationals reach it compliantly from outside the bloc for the first time. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted CISPE urges EU's ECCO to scrutinise SAP over AI agent API restrictions CISPE said SAP's new curbs on third party AI agents accessing its APIs risk breaching the Data Act's data portability rules and urged the European Cloud Competition Observatory to investigate the restrictions. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA's Godward: private capital pools could fund Europe's rearmament surge CEPA's Thomas Godward argues European institutional, Gulf sovereign wealth and US private capital could fund Europe's defence production surge, citing global venture investment into defence rising from USD 0.5 billion in 2022 to USD 4.7 billion in 2025. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Dutch court allows State to renew Solvinity contract despite CLOUD Act fears The Hague District Court ruled the Dutch State may renew its contract with Solvinity, the DigiD infrastructure operator, before its August deadline, rejecting three citizens' claim that this was unlawful given Solvinity's pending sale to US-owned Kyndryl. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure ReportedAI-drafted Germany's coalition factions table Bundestag motion on submarine cable diplomacy Germany's governing CDU/CSU and SPD factions tabled a Bundestag motion calling on the government to strengthen international cable diplomacy, back the EU's Cable Security Toolbox and reduce one-sided dependence on submarine cable operator structures, within existing budget lines. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Digital SME Alliance urges EU-US tech talks not to weaken EU digital rules Digital SME Alliance said EU-US tech talks must not water down, delay or dilute enforcement of the DMA and DSA, and that dialogue should focus narrowly on protecting minors online rather than reopening EU digital market rules. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA leadership council urges Europe redirect defence budgets to innovation CEPA's International Leadership Council report urges Europe to spend rising defence budgets on interoperable, AI enabled manufacturing, drones and missiles rather than legacy systems, arguing sovereignty means contributing more within NATO, not autonomy from allies. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Khara: Ukraine must pair Western arms with its own strike capability Oleksandr Khara of Kyiv's Centre for Defence Strategies, writing for CEPA, argues Ukraine must pair Western munitions with its own long range strike, drone and electromagnetic capabilities and deeper joint production with European allies to deter future Russian aggression. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted QuantWare raises EUR152 million Series B led by Intel Capital and In-Q-Tel QuantWare, a Delft quantum processor maker, closed a EUR152 million Series B led by US investors Intel Capital and In-Q-Tel, to build KiloFab, a large open-architecture quantum chip factory in the Netherlands. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Nscale commits EUR695 million to expand its Portugal GPU campus for Microsoft Nscale, a UK based AI cloud operator, committed EUR695 million to add a second 200 megawatt building at its Start Campus site in Sines, Portugal, to host over 66,000 Nvidia Rubin GPUs sold to Microsoft as capacity from late 2027. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Luxembourg enacts law transposing the EU NIS2 cybersecurity directive Luxembourg published its Law of 5 May 2026 transposing the EU's NIS2 directive, entering into force on 10 May and binding around 15 sectors to harmonised risk management and incident reporting rules, with fines up to EUR 10 million. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted EllaLink lands EU funded subsea cable branch in Mauritania EllaLink and Mauritania's digital ministry landed a new subsea cable branch at Nouadhibou, an EU Connecting Europe Facility co-funded route giving Mauritania a second path to Europe with multi-terabit scalable capacity. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read ECIPE says DMA data sharing order against Google conflicts with GDPR ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya argue the Commission's Article 6(11) DMA proceedings, which would order Google to share granular search query and click data with rivals, cannot be reconciled with GDPR anonymisation standards. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA fellow urges Europe choose open interoperability over a EuroStack CEPA's William Echikson argues Europe should pursue "Open Digital Sovereignty", keeping AI infrastructure's software layer open and interoperable, rather than an isolated EuroStack, citing TCP/IP, Linux and GSM as precedents for open systems driving adoption. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Falcon 9 launch grows Italy's IRIDE fleet, lifts Greece's first fire satellites A Falcon 9 carried seven more IRIDE satellites, taking Italy's constellation to 31, plus Greece's four satellite Hellenic Fire System and two connectivity CubeSats into orbit on 3 May 2026. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Sentinel-1D becomes fully operational, restoring Europe's radar Earth observation ESA declared Sentinel-1D fully operational, restoring the two satellite C band radar constellation for the Copernicus programme lost when Sentinel-1B failed in 2021, giving Europe continuous all weather day and night Earth observation again. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Dutch spinout Groove Quantum raises EUR 16 million for spin qubit chips Delft spinout Groove Quantum raised EUR 16 million, EUR 10 million equity led by Innovation Industries and 55 North plus EUR 6 million in EIC and Chips Act grants, after building an 18 qubit germanium processor, to scale toward 100 qubits and foundry manufacturing. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Arianespace launches 32 more Amazon Leo satellites on Ariane 6 heavy variant Arianespace launched 32 Amazon Leo satellites on the four booster Ariane 64 from Kourou on 30 April, the second of 18 contracted launches for Amazon's constellation, taking satellites deployed by Ariane 6 to 64 and proving the heavy variant's reliability. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA op-ed flags foreign ownership risk to UK defence mobilisation CEPA's Phil Tinline writes Britain's Strategic Defence Review would let the state mobilise private and commercial assets in a crisis, but asks how much UK defence industry sits in foreign ownership, noting rising European wariness of reliance on US arms contracts. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CEPA adviser says Europe still lacks rules for who pays when AI harms CEPA's Kai Zenner, adviser to MEP Axel Voss, argues that after the Commission withdrew its AI Liability Directive, fragmented national tort rules let developers shift risk onto users, and calls for a unified EU regime with lighter evidentiary burdens for victims. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CEPA fellow says Europe is reactive as it sets AI rules of engagement CEPA's Elly Rostoum writes that Germany's BSI is in active dialogue with Anthropic over security risks and the Commission is weighing whether its Mythos model is high risk under the AI Act, arguing Europe must compete with China without abandoning its values. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted ECIPE says Cybersecurity Act 2 mostly legalises existing 5G vendor bans ECIPE's Hosuk Lee-Makiyama argues Cybersecurity Act 2 mostly formalises 5G Toolbox decisions states already made, noting 70 per cent of installed EU 5G equipment is from trusted vendors and just seven or eight parent firms control networks still exposed to Chinese kit. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA op-ed proposes new European Security Council outside the EU CEPA's Niccolo Comini proposes a European Security Council outside the EU, with two thirds supermajority voting and no permanent seats, so Kremlin-aligned states cannot block action and Europe can decide without depending on Washington. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted EU Commission and EDA sign EUR 35 million BraveTech EU funding agreement The European Commission and European Defence Agency signed a Contribution Agreement funding EDA EUR 35 million for BraveTech EU's second phase, testing rapid defence innovations drawn from lessons of the war in Ukraine. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Germany's AI commission urges EUR 300 billion sovereign fund for AI Germany's Expert Commission on Competition and AI, chaired by Rupprecht Podszun, Schwarz Digits CEO Rolf Schumann and Sebastian Thrun, handed ministers Reiche and Wildberger a report urging a EUR 300 billion "Deutsches Zukunftskapital" fund for AI infrastructure. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedEditor-read France notifies the ITU that Iris2 frequencies are now in active use French spectrum agency ANFR notified the ITU that the FMS-LEO frequencies reserved for Iris2 have been put into use, via a Eutelsat OneWeb satellite operating in an Iris2 designated orbital slot, securing the constellation's frequency rights under ITU rules. Defence and spacePolicy and law ReportedEditor-read EuroHPC opens EUR 25 million call to coordinate Europe's AI Factories EuroHPC JU opened call HORIZON-JU-EUROHPC-2026-COAIF-03, an indicative EUR 25 million budget for consortia to coordinate AI Factories and Antennas and build a European federated web data service, proposals due 23 June 2026. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EU Commission concludes first Digital Markets Act review, flags cloud and AI The Commission concluded its first Digital Markets Act review, finding the law fit for purpose with no legislative change needed now, citing gains in data portability, browser and search choice, and naming cloud computing and AI as priority enforcement areas. Policy and law VerifiedEditor-read CCIA Europe calls Commission's first DMA evaluation an unbalanced picture CCIA Europe's Daniel Friedlaender says the Commission's first DMA evaluation understates degraded user experience and higher SME costs, calling enforcement a procedural black box while backing the Commission's evidence based approach to interoperability. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted Bundeswehr rules out Palantir for military cloud, tests three EU rivals Bundeswehr Cyber and Information Domain Service inspector Vice Admiral Thomas Daum told Handelsblatt Palantir is "not being considered at all" for the military's planned private cloud; Germany's Almato, Orcrist and ChapsVision face testing from summer 2026. Defence and spaceCompute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read Germany's BSI publishes C3A criteria to measure cloud sovereignty Germany's BSI published C3A (Criteria enabling Cloud Computing Autonomy), a catalogue letting agencies and firms test whether a cloud service can be used self-determinedly, building on its C5 security standard, with optional Germany or EU data-residency requirements. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Belgium adopts revised national cyber crisis response plan by royal decree Belgium adopted a revised national cyber crisis response plan by royal decree, setting out how the CCB and the National Crisis Centre coordinate response to major cyber incidents, aligned with the NIS2 directive and EU level crisis coordination. Policy and law ReportedEditor-read SAP joins France's S3NS trusted cloud, with Thales as first customer SAP agreed to deploy its Sovereign Cloud onto S3NS, the Thales led, SecNumCloud qualified French platform, with Thales itself as first customer migrating its ERP by the second half of 2026, keeping data under French jurisdiction. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Bundeswehr orders EUR 1.04 billion more Rheinmetall digital soldier systems Germany's BAAINBw placed a EUR 1.04 billion call off order with Rheinmetall for 237 more IdZ-ES digital soldier systems, equipping 8,600 more soldiers under a EUR 3.1 billion framework running to 2030. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Google led consortium's legal challenge stalls German sovereign cloud award A Google and Adesso consortium filed a procurement complaint contesting Germany's provisional award of a EUR 249.6 million, four year sovereign cloud tender to Deutsche Telekom and SAP, stalling the federal government's sovereignty weighted award. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedAI-drafted EIC selects eight European deep tech startups for EUR 146.5 million scale up The EIC selected eight deep tech startups, including France's quantum firm Alice & Bob and Bulgaria's Endurosat, for STEP Scale Up equity tickets of EUR 10 million to 30 million, totalling up to EUR 146.5 million. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Dutch government signs cloud framework deal with Germany's STACKIT The Netherlands' Ministry of Justice and Security signed a framework agreement making STACKIT, owned by Germany's Schwarz Digits (Lidl's parent group), the Dutch government's official alternative to AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Canada's Cohere agrees to acquire Germany's Aleph Alpha, Schwarz invests EUR 500 million Canada's Cohere agreed to acquire Germany's Aleph Alpha, with Germany's Schwarz Group investing EUR 500 million into Cohere's Series E; the deal needs shareholder and regulatory approval and leaves Cohere as majority owner. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted ArianeGroup chief Bruneau says firm is studying missile production in Germany ArianeGroup chief executive Christophe Bruneau told Les Echos and Handelsblatt the company is studying conventional ballistic missile production in Germany, saying he still believes in French German cooperation "more than ever" despite fighter and tank programme setbacks. Defence and space ReportedOpinionEditor-read Paris satellite start-up Univity raises EUR 27 million to rival Starlink Paris based Univity raised a EUR 27 million Series A backed by Bpifrance's Deeptech 2030 fund, taking total funding past EUR 67 million, to build very low orbit satellite links letting European telecom operators resell space connectivity instead of relying on Starlink. Compute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read CISPE launches Verifiably Sovereign badge framework, more than 40 services certified CISPE, the European cloud infrastructure providers' association, launched an auditable Verifiably Sovereign framework with sovereign and resilient badges to certify cloud offerings, with more than 40 services declaring compliance at launch. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA fellow Nico Lange urges EU quota for sovereign defence technology CEPA senior fellow and IRIS director Nico Lange argues Europe must earmark at least 10 percent of defence procurement for disruptive, sovereign technologies, rising to 30 percent by 2030, saying the US is no longer Europe's automatic security backbone. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CCIA Europe calls for a DMA reality check ahead of gatekeeper law review CCIA Europe's Daniel Friedlaender and Maria Teresa Stecher call DMA compliance a guessing game, citing compressed timelines and no oral hearings, and warn procedural gaps could see Commission decisions annulled by the Court of Justice. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted France picks Scaleway over Microsoft to host its Health Data Hub France's Health Data Hub named French cloud firm Scaleway, chosen through a UGAP public cloud procurement, as its future host, ending its use of Microsoft Azure under DINUM's cloud sovereignty doctrine. No contract value was disclosed. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Schwarz Digits says Dutch central bank to move to STACKIT sovereign cloud At Hannover Messe, Schwarz Digits said it had agreed with De Nederlandsche Bank to migrate workplace technology to its STACKIT cloud; DNB neither confirmed nor denied it, citing its own 2024 warning on banks' reliance on non-European IT suppliers. Compute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read ECIPE policy brief urges a more proportional and predictable DMA ECIPE's Andrea Dugo, Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya publish a policy brief saying DMA enforcement has drifted from its competition goals, recommending clearer objectives, stronger evidence standards and closer alignment with GDPR and cybersecurity rules. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted EuroHPC signs EUR 290 million Dell and E4 contract for Italy's AI factory EuroHPC signed a EUR 290 million contract with Dell Technologies and Italy's E4 Computer Engineering to build the IT4LIA AI factory at CINECA, Bologna, on Nvidia GB200 hardware with French SiPearl CPUs, split evenly with Italy's research ministry. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted German start-up ATMOS Space Cargo raises EUR 25.7 million for orbital return craft German start-up ATMOS Space Cargo closed a EUR 25.7 million Series A, led by Balnord and Expansion Ventures with EIC Accelerator participation, to build what it calls Europe's first routine orbital return infrastructure. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Dutch quantum sensing firm OrangeQS extends seed round to EUR 15 million Delft based OrangeQS extended its seed round to EUR 15 million with new backing from the European Innovation Council Fund, and launched the OrangeQS MAX partnership programme with chipmakers Rigetti, QuantWare and Peak Quantum to scale quantum chip testing. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EuroHPC signs EUR 29.8 million Bull contract for Sweden's Mimer AI factory EuroHPC signed a EUR 29.8 million contract with French vendor Bull to build the Mimer AI Factory supercomputer at NAISS, Linköping University, split evenly between EuroHPC and Sweden's Research Council, deployment starting in 2026. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Spain's Arkadia Space to supply propulsion for Dassault's VORTEX-D spaceplane Spain's Arkadia Space will supply ARIEL thruster propulsion for the reaction control system of Dassault Aviation's VORTEX-D reusable spaceplane demonstrator, a Spanish-French link in Europe's own spaceplane effort. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Rheinmetall Kraken starts series production of unmanned naval vessels Rheinmetall Kraken GmbH began series production of its Kraken K3 Scout unmanned surface vessel at the former Blohm and Voss site in Hamburg, with initial capacity of about 200 units a year, scalable to 1,000. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Dutch firm Volt announces 800 megawatt AI Gigafactory plan for Rotterdam port Dutch AI infrastructure firm Volt announced an "AI Gigafactory" of up to 800 megawatts at the Port of Rotterdam, partnered with energy firm Eneco for North Sea wind power, with construction potentially starting in 2027. Compute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read Think tank finds 23 of 28 European states rely on US cloud for defence Brussels think tank Future of Technology Institute found 23 of 28 European countries use US cloud providers in national defence systems, with 16, including Germany and Poland, at high risk of a US CLOUD Act "kill switch". Defence and spacePolicy and law ReportedEditor-read Poland launches PLN 22.5 billion Chrobry fund for defence investment Poland's MFiPR and state bank BGK launched the Chrobry company with PLN 22.5 billion (about EUR 5.3 billion) from Recovery Plan funds, as loans and equity for defence, cyber and dual use infrastructure investment. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted EU Commission awards EUR 180 million sovereign cloud contract to four EU firms The European Commission awarded up to EUR 180 million over six years to four EU-based providers, Post Telecom with OVHcloud and CleverCloud, STACKIT, Scaleway, and Proximus with S3NS, to host EU institutions' cloud workloads at or above SEAL-2 sovereignty assurance. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Codasip's RISC-V design sale to a US buyer threatens EU chip project DARE Czech chip designer Codasip sold its RISC-V design business, including its Codasip Studio tooling, to an undisclosed US listed semiconductor firm, threatening the EUR 240 million DARE programme's plan to build a European high end RISC-V processor. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedAI-drafted EU opens EUDIS accelerator call, EUR 120,000 per firm for 20 defence start-ups DG DEFIS opened the EUDIS Defence Business Accelerator call, offering a EUR 120,000 seed funding voucher to each of twenty selected European start-ups and scale-ups across six defence technology themes, with the programme starting September 2026. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted AMD and France sign letter of intent on Alice Recoque supercomputer access AMD and French ministers Baptiste, Martin and Le Hénanff signed a letter of intent in Paris on 16 April 2026 to deepen support for France's AI strategy, including a planned AMD Centre of Excellence to help GENCI, the Jules Verne Consortium and CEA harness the Alice Recoque exascale supercomputer. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedEditor-read ECIPE paper says Europe's space policy still favours legacy champions ECIPE authors Andrea Dugo and Dyuti Pandya write Europe made 8 orbital launches in 2025 against the US's 181, its space patent share fell from 11 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2023, and EU space startups average USD 48 million funding against USD 317 million in the US. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted NASA to launch ESA's Rosalind Franklin Mars rover on SpaceX Falcon Heavy NASA confirmed it will launch ESA's Rosalind Franklin Mars rover on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Florida no earlier than late 2028, the launch service NASA owes ESA because Europe has no equivalent heavy lift launcher of its own. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted German antitrust regulator clears Rheinmetall-OHB satellite joint venture Germany's Bundeskartellamt cleared a joint venture between Rheinmetall Digital and OHB to jointly bid for a Bundeswehr military satellite communications contract, with OHB covering the space segment and Rheinmetall the user and network segment. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Airbus taps SEGULA to build and test Eutelsat's OneWeb satellites in Toulouse Airbus named French engineering firm SEGULA Technologies to run assembly, integration and testing of Eutelsat's OneWeb satellites on a Toulouse line, extending Europe's only operational low orbit constellation ahead of IRIS2. Compute and infrastructureDefence and space ReportedEditor-read Romania opens search for consortium leader to build Black Sea AI Gigafactory Romania's Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Finance, with ADR as coordinating authority, opened an expression of interest to preselect a consortium leader for the Black Sea AI Gigafactory, an initial phase of about 20,000 GPUs, submissions due 14 June 2026. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Dutch parliament approves Cyberbeveiligingswet transposing the NIS2 directive The Dutch Tweede Kamer approved the Cyberbeveiligingswet transposing NIS2, adding an Article 21a power letting the minister bar entities from suppliers posing a direct national security risk, subject to safeguards and transition periods. Policy and law ReportedEditor-read ESA hires Canada's Kepler to lead EUR 18.6 million laser comms element ESA signed a EUR 18.6 million contract for Element 3 of its HydRON laser communications demonstration, led by Canada's Kepler Communications with European partners Vyoma, Astrolight, Tesat and Mbryonics, announced at the 41st Space Symposium. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted EDA's 2025 annual report tallies EUR 558 million in capability projects EDA's 2025 annual report said it supported 87 capability and research projects worth EUR 558 million and 42 European Defence Fund initiatives worth over EUR 300 million, and warned that the EU is no longer in a permissive security environment. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted SWP Berlin paper says EU pursues open strategic autonomy in tech policy SWP Berlin's edited research paper on the "geoeconomic Zeitenwende" says the EU's pursuit of "open strategic autonomy" in digital and technology policy should reduce dependence through market completion, regulation and allied partnerships, not isolationist decoupling. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted Cubbit, SUSE, Elemento and StorPool launch an all-European disaster recovery cloud package Cubbit, SUSE, Elemento Cloud and StorPool Storage launched a joint Sovereign Disaster Recovery Pack combining only European storage, compute and networking components, already deployed by an Italian IT service provider. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EDRi says EU Digital Omnibus risks weakening GDPR and AI Act safeguards EDRi's Itxaso Dominguez de Olazabal and Chiara Casati write that the EU's Digital Omnibus, framed as simplification, would weaken GDPR, ePrivacy and AI Act safeguards by shifting to corporate self-assessment. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted DigitalEurope rejects US Section 301 overcapacity claims against EU tech industry DigitalEurope, representing 56,000 companies, told the US Section 301 overcapacity probe there is no evidence of EU economywide overcapacity, warning broad tariffs would damage transatlantic semiconductor, cloud and AI cooperation. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted EuroHPC launches Federation Platform for single access to EU supercomputers EuroHPC released the Federation Platform, built by CSC, IT4Innovations, Tartu, Ghent, GEANT and NORDUnet, giving researchers and firms single sign on access across Europe's 12 deployed supercomputers, with AI factory and quantum links planned. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EU Commission commits EUR 1.07 billion to 57 European Defence Fund projects The Commission will invest EUR 1.07 billion in 57 European Defence Fund projects across 26 member states and Norway, backing drone defence, air shield and space shield flagships; grant agreements are still pending signature. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted ESA and Canada sign agreement to share classified space security information ESA director general Josef Aschbacher and Canadian Space Agency president Lisa Campbell signed a General Security of Information Agreement at the Space Symposium, framing exchange of classified data on space surveillance, disaster response and security technologies. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Digital Realty to invest EUR 2 billion in Italian data centres, buys Milan land US REIT Digital Realty said it will invest EUR 2 billion in Italian data centres over five years, with a 62 megawatt Rome campus due in 2027 and an 84 megawatt Milan site, after paying EUR 56.5 million for two land parcels near Milan. Compute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read ECIPE warns DMA interoperability rules clash with GDPR and cybersecurity law ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Andrea Dugo argue DMA interoperability mandates override GDPR data protection defaults and widen gatekeeper systems' attack surface, warning the EU's shift to prescriptive digital rules is creating unmanageable regulatory conflicts. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA asks who will control Europe's AI driven shopping carts CEPA's Padraig Nolan warns that US built AI models from OpenAI, Google and Meta will shape agentic commerce even where payments run on European instant payment and open banking rails, urging Europe to set agent authorisation rules rather than mandates. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Germany's Quantum Systems forms two more joint ventures with Ukraine Germany's Quantum Systems formed joint ventures Quantum WIY Industries and Quantum Tencore Industries with Ukrainian partners WIY Drones and Tencore, to build interceptor drones and unmanned ground systems. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted France makes SecNumCloud or EUCS qualification mandatory for State data hosting France's Decree No. 2026-272 makes SecNumCloud or equivalent EUCS qualification mandatory for cloud providers hosting the State's most sensitive data, covering named administrations and six public-interest groupings, two years after the SREN law required it. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EuroHPC inaugurates Quandela's Lucy quantum computer at France's TGCC site EuroHPC inaugurated Lucy, a 12 qubit photonic quantum computer built by France's Quandela and Germany's attocube, integrated with the Joliot Curie supercomputer at TGCC. Cost EUR 8.5 million, split evenly between EuroHPC and France. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Bulgaria renews EUR 210 million EIF fund for high tech and defence firms Bulgaria renewed its JEREMIE mandate with the European Investment Fund through 2035, making EUR 210 million in equity, loans and guarantees available for microelectronics, AI, quantum, space and dual use firms. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Accenture and Google Cloud open sovereign AI innovation centre in Brussels Accenture and Google Cloud opened a Sovereign Cloud and AI Innovation Center in Brussels, an air gapped Google Distributed Cloud site where governments and regulated sectors can test AI workloads under sovereignty and compliance requirements. Compute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read ESA opens EUR 1 million call to define crew launch abort demonstrator ESA opened a EUR 1 million System Level Definition phase call on 10 April 2026 for a Crew Launch Abort Demonstrator, baselined on Ariane 6 from Kourou's ELA4 pad, a first step towards a European crewed capsule capability. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read CEPA analyst says quantum era is already here, not a future promise Beacon Global Strategies' Alicia Chavy writes in CEPA that quantum is already operational, not future, citing Europe's EuroQCI network and national crypto agility duties ahead of a 2035 post-quantum migration deadline. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted EU Council approves EUR 17.15 billion SAFE defence loans for Czechia and France The Council of the EU cleared SAFE loans of EUR 17.15 billion for Czechia (EUR 2.06 billion) and France (EUR 15.09 billion) to fund defence procurement, with no equipment or suppliers yet chosen. Defence and spacePolicy and law ReportedAI-drafted OVHcloud launches Defence vertical and AI Lab alongside record H1 results OVHcloud reported H1 FY26 revenue of EUR 555.3 million and a record 40.9 percent EBITDA margin, and said it is building a dedicated Defence vertical for European ministries and has launched an AI Lab founded on its acquisition of Dragon LLM. Compute and infrastructureDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted EU Commission marks one year of AI Continent Action Plan with two reports Marking one year of its AI Continent Action Plan, the Commission published two new reports, on AI adoption in public administration and on trust in AI policymaking, and tallied 19 operational AI factories and 76 gigafactory expressions of interest across 16 member states. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EU clears EUR 211 million Italian state aid for CamGraPhIC photonic transceivers The Commission cleared EUR 211 million of Italian state aid for CamGraPhIC, a Pisa and Bergamo based firm building graphene photonic transceivers for data centre interconnects, aimed at cutting reliance on non European optical component suppliers. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Poland's FENG committee backs EUR 30 million shift to Horizon Europe Poland's FENG Monitoring Committee approved shifting EUR 30 million from ERDF regional funds to Horizon Europe co-funding, to back Polish ERC and EIC Accelerator bids rated excellent but left unfunded, pending Cabinet and EC approval. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedEditor-read ECIPE says DMA enforcement is redesigning markets, not restoring competition ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Dyuti Pandya say DMA enforcement now reshapes product design rather than remedying anticompetitive conduct, pointing to a Google Maps case where compliance changes raised map search queries by over 20 per cent, benefiting Google itself. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted