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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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Germany opens funding competition for error corrected quantum computers Germany's research ministry opened a funding competition for domestic quantum computer hardware and pilot manufacturing, grants of EUR 20 million to 55 million per project, aiming for two error corrected European class machines by 2030. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted France's DINUM orders every ministry to cut non-European tech dependencies DINUM held an interministerial seminar ordering every French ministry to file a plan cutting non-European tech dependencies by autumn 2026. DINUM begins moving its own workstations from Windows to Linux; CNAM shifts 80,000 agents to sovereign collaboration tools. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted ESA's Celeste satellite sends Europe's first low orbit navigation signal ESA's Celeste IOD-1 CubeSat, built by GMV and Alen Space with Thales Alenia Space and over 50 entities from 14 countries, sent Europe's first dual frequency navigation signal from low Earth orbit, testing a Galileo resilience layer. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Germany commissions SAP and Telekom to build central citizen app Germany's Federal Ministry for Digital and State Modernisation commissioned SAP and Deutsche Telekom, via an existing federal framework agreement, to build a central AI based citizen app, with T-Systems running the cloud infrastructure and Schwarz Digits integrating the open source Wire messenger. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedEditor-read Commission proposes extending EUSPA's mandate to run EU space policy to 2034 The Commission proposed a Regulation extending EUSPA's mandate, to be renamed as the agency implementing the EU's space systems and policy, covering 2028 to 2034 under the European Competitiveness Fund, pending adoption by Parliament and Council. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Greece contracts Israel's Elbit Systems for USD 750 million PULS rockets Israel's Elbit Systems won a USD 750 million (EUR 650 million) contract to supply PULS rocket artillery to Greece's armed forces over four years, with local production and technology transfer to Greek industry. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Commission proposes unlocking EUR 45 billion for Ukraine, eases drone rules The Commission proposed a Council Implementing Decision to unlock up to EUR 45 billion for Ukraine in 2026 under the EUR 90 billion Ukraine Support Loan, and eased procurement derogations to speed Ukrainian drone production, pending Council adoption. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA fellows say EU Space Act cannot close Europe's launch capability gap CEPA fellows Federico Borsari and Maria-Doriana Gheorghe argue the EU Space Act, replacing 13 national laws, chiefly binds Starlink while exempting Galileo and IRIS2, yet leaves Europe far behind Starlink's fleet of over 7,000 satellites. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted EU Chips Act consortium launches EUR 50 million SPINS pilot line for quantum chips Imec led a 25 partner consortium across nine EU states in launching the SPINS pilot line, EUR 50 million from the EU Chips Joint Undertaking and national funders, to industrialise spin qubit chip manufacturing on 300mm CMOS lines. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted ESA awards Redwire a contract to build its QKDSat quantum secure satellite ESA awarded US owned Redwire a contract to build its Hammerhead spacecraft, at Redwire's Belgian facility, for the QKDSat quantum key distribution demonstration under the ARTES programme; contract value was not disclosed. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted CISPE and industry peers warn Italy's cloud levy risks fragmenting EU market CISPE, EuroISPA and the European DIGITAL SME Alliance jointly warned that Italy's new copyright levy on cloud storage, charged per gigabyte and per user, undermines EU digitalisation and competitiveness goals and could fragment the Single Market if copied elsewhere. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA says EU Inc falls short of Europe's Delaware moment for startups CEPA's Anda Bologa argues the Commission's EU Inc proposal, offering fast, low cost registration for standardised startups, leaves cross border hiring, tax and bankruptcy law fragmented across 27 states, calling it incremental, not a unifying regime. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted GCAP Agency awards Edgewing GBP 686 million first joint fighter contract The GCAP Agency placed a GBP 686 million contract with Edgewing, the UK-Italy-Japan joint venture, for design and engineering work on the sixth-generation fighter, the programme's first joint international contract. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Seven Dutch IT firms form Open Cloud Alliance to challenge US cloud giants Centric, Info Support, Intermax, KPN, Nebul, Previder and Uniserver formed the Open Cloud Alliance on 1 April 2026, offering the Dutch government cloud platforms under Dutch and European jurisdiction to cut reliance on non-European providers. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read EIC awards EUR 118 million to 30 breakthrough research projects The European Innovation Council awarded EUR 118 million in Pathfinder Challenges grants to 30 early stage research projects, chosen from 647 proposals, spanning AI diagnostics, robotics and climate resilient crops. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Germany still undecided on Palantir analysis software for BKA Germany's federal government confirmed it has still not decided on procuring Palantir analysis software for the BKA, citing constitutional and AI Act concerns, and is instead developing modular in-house analysis capabilities under the federal-state Programme P20. Policy and law ReportedEditor-read UK competition watchdog opens Microsoft probe, wins cloud fee pledges The UK Competition and Markets Authority opened a strategic market status investigation into Microsoft's business software ecosystem starting in May 2026, and secured commitments from Microsoft and Amazon on cloud data egress fees and interoperability. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Nebius to build 310 megawatt AI data centre in Finland Nebius, the Amsterdam headquartered, Nasdaq listed AI infrastructure company, said it will build a 310 megawatt AI data centre in Lappeenranta, Finland, its tenth site and largest outside the United States. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted EDA to coordinate EUR 50 million joint qualification of 155mm shells EDA will coordinate a EUR 50 million Joint Ammunition Qualification programme funded under EDIP, starting with 155mm shells, so ammunition tested in one of the 27 member states need not be re-tested elsewhere. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Bitdeer engages Norwegian contractor for 180 megawatt AI data centre Singapore based Bitdeer engaged Norwegian contractor Data Center Installations to finish its 180 megawatt Tydal AI data centre in Trondelag, built for Nvidia hardware and run entirely on hydroelectric power, targeted for completion in December 2026. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read CEPA's Axe says Iran war exposes Europe's costly, porous air defences CEPA's David Axe says Europe's reliance on USD 100 million Eurofighter Typhoon sorties and USD 1 million missiles against USD 50,000 Shahed style drones is unsustainable, urging Ukraine style layered, low cost interceptor defences. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Mistral AI raises USD 830 million debt for Paris AI data centre Mistral AI secured USD 830 million in debt from a seven-bank French and European consortium to build a data centre at Bruyeres-le-Chatel near Paris with 13,800 Nvidia GPUs, targeting 200 megawatts of capacity across Europe by 2027. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedAI-drafted EU Commission adopts EUR 1.5 billion EDIP work programme for defence industry The Commission adopted a EUR 1.5 billion EDIP work programme for 2026 to 2027, including EUR 325 million to seed future European Defence Projects of Common Interest; calls for proposals, open also to Norway and Ukraine, opened on 31 March. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted ESA launches first Celeste satellites to test LEO layer complementing Galileo ESA launched the first two Celeste satellites, built by Spain's GMV and France's Thales Alenia Space, to test a low Earth orbit layer complementing Galileo; 11 satellites are planned by 2027 across over 50 firms in 14 countries. Defence and space VerifiedEditor-read EuroStack paper urges Europe to organise demand, not just fund supply EuroStack Initiative argues EU industrial policy over relies on supply side subsidy and must organise demand pull, coordinated public and corporate buying of European digital infrastructure, to build a sovereign stack. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted EuroHPC opens EUR 25 million tender for Ireland's CASPIr supercomputer EuroHPC JU opened a EUR 25 million tender to procure CASPIr, a mid-range Irish supercomputer exceeding 15 petaflops, funded 35 percent by the Digital Europe Programme and 65 percent by Ireland, with bids due by 5 May 2026. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Microsoft opens Denmark East cloud region after USD 4,500 million pledge Microsoft opened its Denmark East cloud region across Hoje Taastrup, Koge and Roskilde, part of a planned USD 4,500 million four year investment, its largest in Denmark's history, backed by a 130 megawatt renewable power deal. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read CEPA's Cytera says Ireland and Vietnam cut chip supply chain reliance on China CEPA's Christopher Cytera argues that Ireland's chip design strength and Vietnam's packaging role make transatlantic semiconductor supply chains cheaper, safer and less dependent on China, even as Vietnam targets 50,000 design engineers by 2030. Compute and infrastructure ReportedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted EU Commission proposes EUR 17.15 billion in SAFE loans for Czechia and France The European Commission completed its technical assessment of Czechia's and France's SAFE national investment plans and proposed to the Council loans of EUR 2.06 billion and EUR 15.09 billion respectively; Council adoption and first payments were slated for April. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Norway and Iceland sign agreement to join EU's IRIS2 and GOVSATCOM The EU signed an agreement admitting Norway and Iceland to its GOVSATCOM secure satellite communications service and the IRIS2 constellation programme, extending both EU-run systems to two more European states outside the Union. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted France's state cloud spend hits EUR 84 million, 70 percent to EU providers France's interministerial cloud market recorded EUR 84 million in 2025 orders, up 62 percent, with 70 percent going to European providers such as Bleu, S3NS, OVHcloud, NumSpot, Scaleway, Outscale and Mistral AI under the Cloud au centre doctrine. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Finland halts election platform's move to Amazon Web Services Finland's Ministry of Justice shelved a 2025 decision to migrate its election platform, covering candidate lists, voter registers and vote counting, to Amazon Web Services, citing the US Cloud Act and keeping data on domestic servers through the 2027 election. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedAI-drafted Sparkle signs reseller deal to offer Anthropic's Claude via AWS Bedrock Italy's Sparkle signed a reseller agreement to offer Anthropic's Claude models via Amazon Bedrock to European institutions and enterprises, bundling the US AI service with its own connectivity and multicloud portfolio. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Sovereign legal AI Noxtua moves onto Deutsche Telekom's Industrial AI Cloud German legal AI firm Noxtua, backed by a EUR 81 million round from C.H.BECK, CMS and Dentons, moved its sovereign Legal AI onto Deutsche Telekom's Industrial AI Cloud and AI Factory in Munich, drawing GPU capacity under EU data protection rules. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted EIB Group lifts Defence Equity Facility target to EUR 1 billion EIB Group Boards endorsed lifting the Defence Equity Facility to a EUR 1 billion target for pan-European defence, space and cyber funds, and set the European Tech Champions Initiative on course for EUR 15 billion to mobilise EUR 80 billion in scaleup capital. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Bologa says Chinese cloud and telecom ties bind the Western Balkans CEPA's Anda Bologa writes that Chinese loans, telecoms, surveillance and cloud infrastructure deals across the Western Balkans, including a Montenegro university's tie to a sanctioned Jinan supercomputing centre, lock in vendors and complicate EU accession. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Germany's EUR 10 billion satellite plan stirs EU fragmentation fears Germany is planning a EUR 10 billion, roughly 100 satellite national military LEO constellation with Rheinmetall, OHB and Airbus, separate from the EU's EUR 10.6 billion IRIS2, prompting EU lawmakers to warn of fragmentation. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read Ericsson and Julich sign MoU to develop AI for 6G using JUPITER Sweden's Ericsson and Germany's Forschungszentrum Julich signed a memorandum to jointly develop AI and high performance computing methods for 6G, using Julich's JUPITER exascale supercomputer for training and prototyping. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Fraunhofer prints multi-metal rocket valve with ArianeGroup input Fraunhofer IGCV printed a multi material rocket valve demonstrator combining magnetic and non magnetic steel in one build, under the EUR 38 million EU funded Enlighten project, with ArianeGroup supplying integration requirements for future launchers. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Zayo Europe to connect Blackstone's QTS Cambois AI campus in Northumberland Zayo Europe will build four fibre routes into Blackstone owned QTS's multi billion pound Cambois AI data centre campus in Northumberland, designed for up to 720 megawatts of AI ready capacity. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Cloudberry Ventures launches EUR 50 million European deeptech fund London-based Cloudberry Ventures, founded by ex-Google Moonshot X advisor Mahir Sahin, launched a EUR 50 million fund backing European seed to Series A deeptech infrastructure, spanning compute, photonics and industrial hardware. Industry, investment and R&D ReportedEditor-read CCIA report says EU Space Act could cost Europe up to EUR 52 billion a year CCIA Research Center, with LAMA Economic Research, says the draft EU Space Act could raise LEO satellite manufacturing costs by 10 to 46 percent and cut EU GDP by up to EUR 52 billion a year through 2030. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space ReportedOpinionAI-drafted EU says EUR 140 million European Launcher Challenge funding at risk of lapsing SpaceNews reported that EUR 140 million ESA member states pledged to the European Launcher Challenge remains unallocated and at risk of lapsing, including EUR 34.9 million earmarked for bankrupt British challenger Orbex, with no replacement mechanism yet set. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read DigitalEurope calls for narrower Critical Raw Materials Act obligations DigitalEurope argued the Commission's proposed Critical Raw Materials Act amendments are disproportionate, urging a 0.2 kilogram threshold on supply chain mapping, flexible mitigation timelines and no new labelling mandates for industry. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted Vincorion lists on Frankfurt Stock Exchange, valued at EUR 850 million German defence electronics maker Vincorion listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 20 March 2026 at EUR 17.00 a share, a EUR 345 million secondary sale by owner STAR Capital valuing the company at EUR 850 million. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA's Hidalgo Martinez: US pressure is making Europe less compliant, not more CEPA's Natalia Hidalgo Martinez argues US pressure for higher defence spending is making Europe more autonomous, citing Germany's rise to the world's fourth largest military budget at USD 107 billion and Denmark's pick of SAMP/T over Patriot. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Bukowski examines splits over EU's Made in Europe manufacturing rule CEPA's Maciej Bukowski examines the Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act and its 20 percent manufacturing GDP target for 2035, noting Nordic and German pushback for "Made with Europe" wording instead. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted France's top court upholds Microsoft hosting of health data study France's Conseil d'Etat rejected challenges to a CNIL authorisation for a 10 million person health data study hosted on Microsoft Azure, ruling the US CLOUD Act access risk acceptable given safeguards and no transfer to the United States. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Telefonica Tech adds three Spanish firms to its quantum ecosystem Telefonica Tech added Spanish quantum firms Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, QCentroid and Multiverse Computing to its quantum ecosystem, building a combined hardware, software and orchestration offering alongside existing partners IBM and IQM. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Polish Sejm Speaker blocks Nawrocki's rival SAFE zero percent fund bill Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty refused to register President Nawrocki's rival Polish Defence Investment Fund bill (SAFE zero percent, funded from central bank profits), citing a breach of Article 221 of the constitution and no verified funding source. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedEditor-read ECB picks OVHcloud and Scaleway as EU-only cloud backers for digital euro tender OVHcloud and Scaleway were named EU-only cloud subcontractors to Senacor Technologies, the ECB's first-ranked tenderer for the digital euro's Secure Exchange of Payment Information system, with AWS, Microsoft and Google barred from bidding. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Swissto12 opens Switzerland's largest satellite integration facility Swissto12 opened a new 1,000 square metre satellite integration cleanroom in Renens, funded through a EUR 73 million ESA HummingSat programme investment, adding domestic capacity to build small geostationary satellites. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted SAP launches sovereign cloud in France with Bleu SAP began deploying its sovereign cloud in France on Bleu, the Capgemini and Orange venture, targeting ANSSI's SecNumCloud qualification for public sector and regulated industry workloads shielded from non-European extraterritorial law. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Germany selects 38 projects for chipmaking IPCEI, over EUR 3 billion Germany selected 38 semiconductor projects from twelve federal states for the IPCEI on Advanced Semiconductor Technologies, committing more than EUR 3 billion as EU coordinator, spanning chip design through production. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedAI-drafted Alpine Eagle scales up counter drone interceptor production near Munich Alpine Eagle is building a 2,000 square metre interceptor plant near Munich, growing headcount from 12 to a planned 100 by year end, and signed three new European customers beyond its German Bundeswehr launch buyer, plus UK and Dutch expansion. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Spain agrees EUR 1 billion SAFE funded military aid and joint output with Ukraine President Zelensky and Prime Minister Sanchez confirmed Spain's EUR 1 billion 2026 military aid package for Ukraine, part funded by the EU's SAFE instrument, as Sener Aerospace signed joint missile and air defence production deals with Ukrainian firms. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read Swiss startup Rhonexum raises USD 1 million for cryogenic quantum chip electronics Lausanne based Rhonexum, an EPFL AQUA Lab spinout, raised USD 1 million in pre-seed funding led by Dutch fund QDNL Participations plus Venture Kick and Swiss grants, to build cryogenic electronics that sit inside quantum computers' cold chambers. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedEditor-read Reply joins Mistral Forge to build sovereign AI models for Europe Italy's Reply became a launch partner of Mistral AI's Forge programme to build sovereign, customisable large language models on European infrastructure for regulated sectors, with a first named project building a Greek language model with Austria's Academy of Sciences. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Germany's IT Planning Council agrees common Deutschland-Stack platform core Germany's IT-Planungsrat, uniting the federal government and the Länder, agreed a common Deutschland-Stack platform core and initial portfolio: binding shared services for identification, data exchange, retrieval, payment and notification across administrative levels. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law VerifiedEditor-read CCIA says UK keeps world's worst AI copyright regime by shelving reform Responding to the UK's decision to shelve AI copyright reform, CCIA's Matthew Sinclair said Britain keeps "the worst copyright regime for AI training of any major economy" against Japan, the EU and the United States, and urged a fresh compromise. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted CCIA-backed study says DMA drained European startup funding, not a Kill Zone A CCIA Research Center study of 2,276 European venture-backed firms found no rise in EU IPOs since the Digital Markets Act and a 37 percent fall in venture funding from 2022 to 2024, leading chief economist Trevor Wagener to call the "Kill Zone" rationale a myth. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedOpinionAI-drafted CCIA Europe urges swift deal after Parliament sets AI Omnibus position After Parliament's IMCO and LIBE committees adopted their AI Omnibus negotiating mandate, CCIA Europe urged trilogue negotiators to set a 12 month grace period for generative AI marking and labelling to avoid legal uncertainty for firms. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted UK government drops AI copyright reform, keeps status quo pending evidence The UK government published its Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, dropping its favoured broad text and data mining exception with opt-out and choosing to gather more evidence rather than legislate, minister Liz Kendall told Parliament. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Parliament committees adopt negotiating position on AI Act simplification Parliament's IMCO and LIBE committees adopted, 101 votes to 9 with 8 abstentions, a negotiating mandate on the AI Act Omnibus, fixing high-risk AI obligations to 2 December 2027 and 2 August 2028 and shortening the watermarking grace period. Policy and law ReportedAI-drafted UK finalises rules on reporting incidents at critical tech suppliers The Bank of England, PRA and FCA published final rules requiring UK financial firms to report operational incidents and register material third party arrangements, including cloud and tech suppliers, with compliance due by 18 March 2027. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Leonardo completes EUR 1.7 billion acquisition of Iveco's defence vehicles unit Leonardo closed its EUR 1.7 billion purchase of Iveco Group's defence arm (Iveco Defence Vehicles and ASTRA, EUR 1,368 million in 2025 revenue), consolidating armoured and military vehicle production under the Italian prime. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Germany makes Open Document Format binding standard for federal IT Germany's IT Planungsrat declared the Open Document Format and PDF/UA the binding format standards for new Deutschland Stack government IT solutions, sidelining proprietary formats such as Microsoft's in future federal and state systems. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Germany's cabinet adopts first national data centre strategy Germany's federal cabinet adopted its first national Data Centre Strategy, targeting a doubling of data centre connection capacity and a quadrupling of AI and high performance computing capacity by 2030 across 28 measures, with no funding figure disclosed. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted UK, Finland and Netherlands to explore joint defence financing mechanism The UK, Finland and the Netherlands issued a joint statement saying they will explore a new treaty-based mechanism, modelled on the EIB, by 2027 to pool demand and speed up joint defence procurement, with contributions weighted by GDP share and open to other partners. Policy and lawDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Germany's KRITIS-Dachgesetz critical infrastructure law enters into force Germany's KRITIS-Dachgesetz, transposing the EU's Critical Entities Resilience Directive, was promulgated on 16 March 2026 and entered into force the next day, creating the first federal legal framework for the physical protection of critical infrastructure operators. Policy and law ReportedEditor-read EU Commission delays flagship tech sovereignty package to April The European Commission postponed its flagship Tech Sovereignty Package, covering the Cloud and AI Development Act and Chips Act 2.0, pushing the target date from 25 March to 15 April 2026; reporting linked the delay to US pressure over trade compatibility. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read EU Commission opens EUR 200 million call for submarine cable infrastructure The European Commission opened two Connecting Europe Facility calls worth EUR 200 million, EUR 180 million for backbone upgrades on the 13 priority submarine cable routes and EUR 20 million for smart cable monitoring. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Diehl Defence and Latvian firm agree MoU for Baltic air defence hub Diehl Defence signed a memorandum of understanding with Latvia's Ripo Remonta Centrs to form a joint venture running a Baltic maintenance and repair hub for its IRIS-T SLM systems, serving Latvia, Estonia and German units in Lithuania. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted EuroStack urges German leaders to resist hyperscaler alliance, build sovereign stack EuroStack's open letter told German leadership that a new alliance between domestic industry and hyperscalers must not undermine Buy European efforts, urging sovereign tech infrastructure built through industrial leadership rather than AI alone. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted CISPE-led cloud CEOs urge EU to block sovereignty washing in Cloud AI Act CEOs of 25 European cloud providers, led by CISPE, wrote to Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen urging that the Cloud and AI Development Act require EU control of data and infrastructure and a Buy European procurement principle, warning against sovereignty washing. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted EDRi says Council draft strips worst GDPR and ePrivacy cuts, risks remain EDRi assessed the Council's first Digital Omnibus compromise and found damaging changes to the GDPR's personal data definition, scientific research rules and Article 22 dropped, though AI development and terminal equipment provisions remain unresolved. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA chief Polyakova proposes a 'Pax Silica' coalition to meet China's tech push CEPA chief executive Alina Polyakova writes that neither Washington nor Europe can outcompete China's tech drive alone, citing China's lead in 57 of 64 critical technology categories, and proposes a Pax Silica coalition to secure the silicon supply chain. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted UK Chancellor announces GBP 500 million Sovereign AI Fund for British AI firms Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a GBP 500 million Sovereign AI Fund, a venture vehicle offering capital and compute access to early and growth stage British AI companies, part of a wider GBP 2.5 billion package due to launch in April. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedAI-drafted UK commits up to GBP 2 billion to quantum computing under ProQure The UK government announced up to GBP 2 billion for quantum computing, including a GBP 1 billion ProQure procurement programme to buy commercial-scale quantum computers, aiming to deploy them at scale by the early 2030s. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Poland contracts EUR 3.5 billion 'San' anti-drone system on SAFE loan money Poland confirmed it will fund its EUR 3.5 billion 'San' anti-drone system, already contracted to a Polish-Norwegian consortium, from SAFE loans; the European Commission said it was ready to release a EUR 6.5 billion pre-financing tranche in April. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedEditor-read French owned Alcatel Submarine Networks halts 2Africa cable work on Gulf leg Alcatel Submarine Networks, now majority owned by the French state, invoked force majeure and halted cable laying on the Persian Gulf leg of the 2Africa system after regional conflict left its vessel stranded at Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Compute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read CEPA's Berlin urges the West to copy Ukraine's private sector air defence model CEPA's Derek Berlin urges the West to copy Ukraine's programme letting private firms finance and deploy air defences at ports and power stations, citing European airport shutdowns from drone sightings as proof of fragile infrastructure. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Isar Aerospace wins launch contract from Astroscale's UK subsidiary German launch firm Isar Aerospace signed a launch services agreement with Astroscale's UK arm to fly its ELSA-M debris-removal spacecraft from Andoya Space in Norway aboard Isar's Spectrum rocket, targeted for 2028; contract value undisclosed. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted EuroHPC signs EUR 55 million contract for AI supercomputer HammerHAI EuroHPC JU signed a EUR 55 million contract with HPE to deploy the AI-optimised supercomputer HammerHAI at HLRS Stuttgart, split evenly between EU Digital Europe Programme funds and German federal and state funds. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted UK and Ireland agree bilateral framework on subsea cable incident response At their Cork summit, the UK and Ireland agreed a Subsea Infrastructure Bilateral Collaboration Framework for information sharing and coordinated response to cable incidents, with the first live readiness exercise due in September 2026. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Poland's government moves to draw EUR 44 billion SAFE loan despite veto Poland's Council of Ministers resolved to draw the EUR 44 billion SAFE defence loan despite President Nawrocki's veto, routing funds via BGK and the Armed Forces Support Fund; signing with the Commission would release an immediate EUR 6.6 billion tranche, ministers said. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedEditor-read ECIPE says Europe's competitiveness crisis is a tech investment problem ECIPE's Fredrik Erixon and Oscar Guinea argue Europe's competitiveness gap is a technology performance problem, citing computer programming at 6.2% of EU business R&D against 18.6% in the US, and urge deregulation over subsidies. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA's Majcin questions how far France's nuclear umbrella can shield Europe CEPA's Juraj Majcin says President Macron's move to extend France's roughly 290 warhead deterrent to Germany, Poland, Denmark and Sweden marks a break from Gaullist doctrine, though its reach against Russia's larger arsenal is limited. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted EDA signs EUR 15.65 million contract for first European VLEO military satellite The European Defence Agency signed a EUR 15.65 million, 36 month contract with a 17 member consortium led by Spain's Sener to design Europe's first military satellite concept for Very Low Earth Orbit, funded by Spain, France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Romania designates ANCOM as national AI Act enforcement authority Romania's government adopted a memorandum designating ANCOM as the national market surveillance authority and single contact point for the EU AI Act, with ASF, BNR and ANSPDCP named for sector specific high risk AI oversight. Policy and law ReportedEditor-read Poland's president vetoes bill unlocking EUR 43.7 billion in EU defence loans Poland's President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the law letting the National Development Bank draw EUR 43.7 billion in EU SAFE defence loans, calling it a decades-long foreign debt burden; the Tusk government said it would reroute the funds through an existing defence fund. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedEditor-read Microsoft breaks ground on EUR 3.2 billion AI data centre cluster in NRW Microsoft broke ground on the first of three AI data centres in the Rhenish lignite mining area (Bergheim, Bedburg, Elsdorf), part of a EUR 3.2 billion German investment under its "Made for Germany" plan to expand cloud and AI capacity. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read Belgium's FN Herstal and Dutch Damen sign MoU on maritime defence systems Belgium's FN Herstal and the Netherlands' Damen signed a memorandum of understanding at BEDEX to integrate FN weapons with Damen vessels and jointly explore unmanned surface vessels for the Belgian and Dutch navies. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted DigitalEurope urges WTO to enshrine e-commerce rules, expand IT pact at MC14 DigitalEurope urged WTO members at MC14 to fold the JSI e-commerce text into WTO law and widen the Information Technology Agreement, citing a possible EUR 2 trillion gain and two million jobs for Europe from freer data flows. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted DigitalEurope sets conditions for digital euro's place in EU payments DigitalEurope urged the ECB and EU institutions to design the digital euro as a complement to private payment rails, prioritising offline use, holding limits and fair distributor compensation rather than displacing existing systems. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted CEPA's Monette: France's debt and gridlock undercut its defence spending pledge CEPA's Nicole Monette says France's pledge to raise defence spending to EUR 64 billion within 18 months and add EUR 36 billion by 2030 is undercut by debt at 113 percent of GDP and a hung parliament after Bayrou's resignation. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Fennell: Royal Navy's slow Cyprus response risks national embarrassment James Fennell, CEPA fellow and former FCDO stabilisation director, writes that HMS Dragon could not sail from Cyprus until 10 March after a 2 March drone attack, behind an 11 ship French deployment, and argues UK defence spending of 2.3 percent of GDP is inadequate. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Elaia closes DeepTech Seed Fund III at EUR 134 million for European startups Elaia Partners closed its third deep tech seed fund at EUR 134 million, roughly double its predecessor, backed by INRIA, Bpifrance, BNP Paribas and others, to back European pre-seed and seed startups in computing, semiconductors, quantum and industry. Industry, investment and R&D ReportedAI-drafted DigitalEurope urges EUR 20 billion ecosystem budget for Chips Act 2.0 DigitalEurope urged Brussels to redesign Chips Act 2.0 around ecosystem competitiveness rather than fab subsidies, proposing a EUR 20 billion centralised semiconductor budget and dropping the narrow first of a kind fab criterion. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted DroneShield opens first EU counter drone manufacturing line outside Australia Australia's DroneShield opened its first counter drone production line outside Australia, contracting an EU manufacturer for turnkey assembly, with deliveries from mid-2026, as it scales global output toward USD 2.4 billion capacity. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedEditor-read ECIPE calls EU Industrial Accelerator Act bureaucratic industrial policy ECIPE's Matthias Bauer calls the Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act "industrial policy by paperwork", arguing its supply chain documentation rules burden firms without lifting the EU's 2035 manufacturing GDP target. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted Royal Navy contracts Kraken for 20 uncrewed vessels under Project Beehive The Royal Navy contracted UK firm Kraken Technology Group to build 20 K-class uncrewed surface vessels under Project Beehive, reported at GBP 12.3 million, as testbeds for the Coastal Forces Squadron and 47 Commando, delivery due by March 2027. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedAI-drafted UK selects US firm Persistent Systems for Project CAIN battlefield radios The UK Ministry of Defence selected US firm Persistent Systems' Wave Relay MANET, MPU5 radios and Cloud Relay software for 16 Air Assault Brigade under Project CAIN, in a multi-million dollar contract with no figure disclosed. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Finnish intelligence report doubts Russian sabotage behind Baltic cable damage Finland's Security and Intelligence Service Supo said in its National Security Overview 2026, published 10 March, that Baltic Sea cable damage has recurred for decades by anchor and cannot automatically be read as deliberate Russian state sabotage. Compute and infrastructureDefence and space ReportedEditor-read ESA offers EUR 50 million bonus to steer cargo return launches to Europe ESA told bidders for its ALADDIN cargo return contracts it would offer up to EUR 50 million extra to those using Ariane 6 or another European launcher, on top of up to EUR 420 million per contract for two planned awards. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read CCIA Europe warns Parliament's AI copyright report will squeeze startups Responding to Parliament's copyright and generative AI resolution, CCIA Europe's Boniface de Champris said the non-binding report risks a "compliance tax" that could price European AI startups out of the market and should not replace existing rules. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted Parliament adopts non-binding resolution to protect creators from AI training MEPs adopted, 460 votes to 71 with 88 abstentions, a non-binding resolution calling for AI providers to disclose an itemised list of copyrighted training works, fair remuneration for rightsholders and an EUIPO-run opt-out registry. Policy and law VerifiedAI-drafted Cyprus completes first operational use of EU's GOVSATCOM satellite hub Cyprus completed its first operational use of the EU's GOVSATCOM Hub, drawing pooled secure satellite capacity from Greece's Hellas Sat under a five-state sharing arrangement, for governmental security communications on the EU's south-eastern border. Defence and space VerifiedAI-drafted France's Education Ministry renews Microsoft framework deal to 2029, EUR 152 million cap France's Ministry of Education renewed its framework agreement with Microsoft to 2029, worth up to EUR 152 million, covering software for around one million workstations and servers across ministries and universities, despite its own sovereignty guidance. Policy and law ReportedEditor-read CEPA's Cytera says UK chip design incubators could grow the next ARM CEPA's Christopher Cytera argues that Swansea's semiconductor doctoral centre and incubators ChipStart and SiliconCatalyst.UK can grow a new ARM, keeping chip design at the frontier of the democratic world and out of China's hands. Compute and infrastructure ReportedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted TNO starts building Europe's first 6-inch photonic chip pilot line TNO began construction of a EUR 150 million industrial pilot line at Eindhoven's High Tech Campus for 6-inch indium phosphide photonic chips, part-funded through the European Chips Act, with PhotonDelta and SMART Photonics. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Nexperia's China unit claims independent 12-inch chip production Nexperia's Chinese subsidiary said it produced small batches of 12-inch wafer discrete chips on a self-developed process, asserting production capability independent of its Dutch parent amid the ongoing Dutch state control dispute. Compute and infrastructure ReportedAI-drafted Isembard raises USD 50 million Series A to open UK aerospace and defence factories Isembard raised a USD 50 million (about GBP 37 million) Series A led by Union Square Ventures to build 25 automated factories making precision aerospace and defence parts, with market launches planned in Germany, France and Ukraine. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Schwarz Digits co-chair says Lidl's cloud arm aims to be Europe's hyperscaler Schwarz Digits co-chairman Christian Müller said in an interview the Lidl owner's cloud arm wants to become a "hyperscaler", a European alternative to AWS and Azure, as it builds its EUR 11 billion Lübbenau AI data campus. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure ReportedOpinionEditor-read EU defence commissioner Kubilius urges Poland to back EUR 43.7 billion SAFE loans Commissioner Andrius Kubilius told reporters in Warsaw that Poland rejecting its EUR 43.7 billion share of the EU's EUR 150 billion SAFE loans would cost Polish jobs, as President Nawrocki resisted the scheme. Defence and space ReportedOpinionEditor-read Spain and Portugal sign MoU to explore joint bid for EU AI gigafactory At their 36th summit in La Rabida, Spain and Portugal signed a memorandum committing to explore a joint Iberian bid to host one of the EU's first AI gigafactories under the InvestAI scheme, ministers Oscar Lopez and Goncalo Matias said. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read ECIPE says EU copyright rules choke data access for European AI systems ECIPE's Oscar Guinea argues that EU copyright restrictions on data access for AI training undermine Europe's capacity to both develop and deploy AI, risking a shift from producer to consumer of the technology. Policy and law VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted Netherlands withdraws report on risks of Amazon's sovereign cloud The Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security withdrew a Greenberg Traurig legal risk report on Amazon's European Sovereign Cloud after critics said it underestimated the risk of US government access to government data under the CLOUD Act. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read CrowdStrike and Schwarz Digits partner to run Falcon on sovereign STACKIT CrowdStrike and Germany's Schwarz Digits partnered to run the Falcon cybersecurity platform on STACKIT, Schwarz's sovereign cloud, keeping telemetry and detection processing inside the EU for regulated customers under EU law. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Dutch startup launches Office.eu, a European owned Microsoft 365 alternative Netherlands based EUfforic launched Office.eu in The Hague, a wholly European owned suite of email, document editing and storage hosted entirely on European infrastructure, pitched against Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for SMEs and individuals. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted Digital Realty enters Portugal with Lisbon data centre acquisition US REIT Digital Realty entered Portugal, buying a building and land in Carnaxide near Lisbon's Carcavelos cable landing station, for a data centre of up to 2.4 megawatts due for service in early 2027. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read CEPA's Decety says FCAS collapse shows Europe needs centralised procurement CEPA's Nathan Decety says FCAS's collapse shows national government-to-contractor deals give industrial champions too much leverage, and urges a centralised European procurement authority modelled on the UK-Italy-Japan GCAP programme. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Bassoli: FCAS fiasco proves European defence choices stay national CEPA's Anna Matilde Bassoli argues FCAS's collapse, driven by a Dassault-Airbus row over an 80 percent workshare split and Franco-German rifts under Chancellor Merz, shows defence decisions remain national, not European. Defence and space VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CEPA's Bologa urges Europe to deepen digital partnerships beyond talk shops CEPA's Anda Bologa writes that with US firms holding 70 to 80 percent of Europe's cloud market and designing its cutting edge chips, Europe should upgrade its digital partnerships with Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Canada beyond talk shops. Compute and infrastructurePolicy and law ReportedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted CCIA Europe urges Irish EU presidency to reject preference for EU vendors CCIA Europe published 12 recommendations for Ireland's EU Council presidency, urging it to finish the regulatory Omnibuses, reject discriminatory EU-preference procurement rules, and block network usage fees on content providers. Policy and law ReportedOpinionAI-drafted EU proposes Industrial Accelerator Act with Made in Europe procurement rules European Commission proposed the Industrial Accelerator Act, setting Made in EU procurement quotas for steel, aluminium and cement, and screening foreign investment above EUR 100 million where one country holds over 40 percent of global output. Policy and lawIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted EU's EIF commits EUR 50 million to Join Capital Fund III for defence deeptech The European Investment Fund committed EUR 50 million to Join Capital Fund III, a Berlin venture vehicle targeting EUR 235 million, under the InvestEU Defence Equity Facility to back early stage European defence, dual use and space deeptech firms. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted EDA selects Airbus to expand Capa-X drone under M2UAS project The European Defence Agency selected Airbus Helicopters, via its Survey Copter arm, for the EUR 1.1 million M2UAS project to expand its Capa-X drone into surveillance, electronic warfare and aerial effects roles over a 48 month programme. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted CEPA fellow Golubeva urges a coordinated EU cyber defence layer against Russia CEPA's Marija Golubeva argues the EU's 27 states should build a coordinated cyber defence "switchboard", with better prepared members like France and Poland aiding others, replacing reliance on US offensive cyber support. Defence and spacePolicy and law VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Poland publishes delayed NIS2 transposition law in the Journal of Laws Poland published its long overdue NIS2 transposition law, amending the Act on the National Cybersecurity System, in the Journal of Laws on 2 March 2026 as Dz.U. 2026 poz. 252, bringing telecoms and postal operators under the regime. Policy and law VerifiedEditor-read UK awards Leonardo GBP 1 billion contract for 23 AW149 helicopters The UK Ministry of Defence awarded Leonardo UK a GBP 1 billion contract for 23 AW149 helicopters under the New Medium Helicopter programme, replacing the retired Puma fleet and moving AW149 export production to Leonardo's Yeovil site. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Telefonica launches EURO-3C sovereign edge and cloud network Telefonica launched EURO-3C, a EUR 75 million Horizon Europe project building a federated sovereign edge and cloud network of over 70 nodes across more than 13 European countries with 70-plus partners. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Austria funds GATE Space to build its first military satellite Austria's government confirmed roughly EUR 0.75 million in funding, via Austria Wirtschaftsservice, for startup GATE Space to build BEACONSAT, Austria's first military satellite, meant to detect GPS and Galileo jamming and spoofing, launch due February 2027. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Amazon raises Spain data centre investment to EUR 33.7 billion Amazon raised its planned investment in Spanish data centres to EUR 33.7 billion, adding EUR 18 billion to a 2024 pledge for the AWS Aragon region and citing 29,900 supported jobs. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Polish parliament sends EUR44 billion SAFE defence loan bill to president Poland's Sejm accepted Senate amendments to the bill implementing almost EUR 44 billion in EU SAFE defence loans, sending it to President Nawrocki, who has 21 days to sign, veto or refer it to the constitutional court. Industry, investment and R&DPolicy and law ReportedEditor-read Poland's PM Tusk details domestic SAFE spending plan, 89 percent to Polish arms firms At a "SAFE, Safe Poland" event in Kobylka, PM Donald Tusk set out how Poland will spend its EUR 43.7 billion SAFE allocation for 2026 to 2030, with 89 percent, some 12,000 firms, going to Polish defence industry. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedEditor-read Leaseweb adds Nvidia L4 GPUs to sovereign UK cloud, claims 30 percent cost edge Dutch cloud provider Leaseweb added Nvidia L4 GPU acceleration to its UK Public Cloud, its first GPU option there, pitching costs over 30 percent below hyperscalers while keeping workloads inside UK and European sovereign data centres. Compute and infrastructure ReportedEditor-read CEPA's Fedasiuk: Europe should pursue selective sovereignty in AI compute CEPA's Ryan Fedasiuk argues Europe should pursue "selective sovereignty" in AI infrastructure, leaning on its strength in energy and cable systems from Siemens, ABB and Prysmian rather than building a full EuroStack. Compute and infrastructure VerifiedOpinionAbroadAI-drafted Dutch regulator clears Kyndryl takeover of DigiD host Solvinity, sovereignty unresolved The Dutch competition authority ACM cleared Kyndryl's takeover of Solvinity, which hosts DigiD identity services for 16.5 million citizens, ruling that public concern about digital autonomy falls outside competition law; a separate national security review continues. Policy and lawCompute and infrastructure VerifiedEditor-read EU Defence Fund's ENGRT II rotorcraft project kicks off with EUR 100 million The European Commission confirmed ENGRT II, the European Defence Fund's second rotorcraft technologies project, is underway with EUR 100 million of EU funding within a EUR 160 million total budget, led by Airbus Helicopters and Leonardo Helicopters across 13 member states. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted DigitalEurope report urges EU market for scale to close EUR 1.2 trillion gap DigitalEurope argues Europe's tech gap is a commercialisation problem, citing an annual EUR 1.2 trillion investment shortfall, and urges EU-level procurement, harmonised tax incentives and demand creation over 27 national approaches. Industry, investment and R&D VerifiedOpinionAI-drafted Ireland funds EUR 1.8 million AI system to detect vessels hiding at sea Research Ireland awarded Trinity College Dublin's Sea Scan team over EUR 1.8 million in the Defence Innovation Challenge to build an AI system that detects vessels with transponders switched off, to help protect subsea cables. Industry, investment and R&DDefence and space VerifiedAI-drafted Ireland launches first National Maritime Security Strategy for undersea cables Defence Minister Helen McEntee launched Ireland's first National Maritime Security Strategy 2026-2030, a five year plan naming protection of undersea cables and interconnectors with France and the UK across its 420,000 square kilometre exclusive economic zone. Policy and lawDefence and space ReportedAI-drafted Bundestag approves Stark Defence Virtus loitering munitions for Brigade 45 Germany's Bundestag approved the procurement of Stark Defence's Virtus loitering munitions to equip the 45th Brigade in Lithuania. Defence and space ReportedAI-drafted ArianeGroup completes Greta engine tests, signs new ESA contract ArianeGroup finished hot-fire testing of its Greta engine (hydrogen peroxide/ethanol, for Ariane 6's Astris kick stage and landers) at Trauen, Germany, and on 6 February 2026 signed a new ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme contract for a flight-engine demonstrator by 2027. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Ukraine's drone makers sign EUR 800 million Build with Ukraine partnerships Ukraine's Culver Aerospace, Tencore, Remtecnology and Terminal Autonomy signed Build with Ukraine partnerships worth EUR 800 million with Denmark's Copenhagen Global, Finland's Insta and New Paakkola Oy, and Latvia's SIA Baltic Forces, for joint aerial and ground drone production. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D ReportedEditor-read EuroHPC launches QEC4QEA quantum applications centre with EU funding EuroHPC JU launched QEC4QEA, a Quantum Excellence Centre coordinated by Forschungszentrum Julich, with EUR 4.9 million of Horizon Europe funding for 19 partners in eight countries building a one stop shop for quantum enhanced applications. Compute and infrastructureIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted EDA opens EUR 1 million land domain tenders including counter-UAS for ground forces The European Defence Agency opened tenders worth about EUR 1 million per project for land domain capabilities, including counter-UAS systems to protect ground forces, armoured platforms and uncrewed ground vehicles, over a 48-month duration. Defence and space ReportedEditor-read Frankenburg Technologies raises EUR 30 million to mass-produce interceptor missiles Estonian defence start-up Frankenburg Technologies closed a EUR 30 million Series A, led by Plural with Estonia's state-backed SmartCap, to build mass-production sites for its Mark I interceptor missile in the UK and Germany. Defence and spaceIndustry, investment and R&D VerifiedAI-drafted Axelera AI raises over USD 250 million to build European AI chips Eindhoven based Axelera AI raised over USD 250 million, led by Innovation Industries with BlackRock, Samsung Catalyst Fund and EU public investors joining, to scale its edge AI inference chips against Nvidia on power efficiency. Industry, investment and R&DCompute and infrastructure VerifiedAI-drafted