VIENNA, Austria: Europe’s AI dependency could give foreign powers unprecedented economic leverage unless the continent develops its own models and data centres, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Monday.
Lagarde said Europe needs AI systems that are “good enough” for most tasks and can run from domestic computing infrastructure. Building that capacity would reduce the threat of foreign suppliers cutting access, she said.
She said the United States produced 59 notable AI models last year and China produced 35, while France and the United Kingdom produced one each. The United States also hosts 75% of global AI computing capacity, compared with 5% in Europe.
Lagarde warned that greater AI adoption without domestic capacity could leave Europe dependent on foreign providers for systems used across transport, healthcare, banking, taxation and border controls. A withdrawal of access or changes to commercial terms could therefore affect several sectors simultaneously, she said.
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That dependence could also give trade partners leverage in negotiations over tariffs or digital taxes. Lagarde said faster AI adoption could raise European productivity by as much as 4% over a decade.
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She also called for more computing infrastructure, warning that Europe already lacks enough data centre capacity and that the shortfall could grow more than sixfold within 10 years under current trends.
