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Europe’s Tech Reliance: Navigating Digital Sovereignty Amid Transatlantic Tensions

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

February 13, 2026

As geopolitical tensions intensify between the United States and the European Union, recent analysis highlights Europe’s deep reliance on American technology providers despite long-standing calls for digital independence.

Transatlantic Tech Tensions

Since returning to the political spotlight, U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a series of decisive actions, including the introduction of new tariffs reported by CNBC, which have added uncertainty to the European economic outlook. At one stage, his administration even floated the possibility of military involvement concerning strategic territories such as Greenland. The idea was later withdrawn, but it nevertheless triggered unease among European leaders.

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Erosion of European Cloud Dominance

Within digital infrastructure, European cloud providers continue to lose ground to U.S. competitors. Data from Synergy Research Group shows that European vendors controlled less than 15% of the market in 2025. Reversing this trajectory remains difficult due to the enormous scale of investment required for research, infrastructure, and global service networks. The firm’s chief analyst, John Dinsdale, notes that leadership in the cloud sector demands not only capital but also strong brand presence and worldwide operational reach.

Enterprise Software and Customer Management Landscape

A European Parliament report illustrates the imbalance even more clearly. U.S. companies command 59% of Europe’s enterprise software market, with Oracle and Microsoft holding 18% and 10% respectively. By comparison, major European firms such as SAP and Deutsche Telekom occupy only small shares in the cloud segment, at roughly 2% each. The customer relationship management sector shows a similar pattern, where Salesforce dominates, and SAP remains a distant competitor, highlighting the persistent gap in digital services.

Striving for Digital Sovereignty

European policymakers are increasingly reassessing technology strategies in pursuit of digital sovereignty. As SAP CEO Christian Klein stated on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe, the debate now goes beyond data storage and management and extends to sovereign control over software platforms themselves. This shift reflects a broader recognition that digital infrastructure has become a matter of economic resilience and national security.

Ultimately, Europe’s ambition to build independent digital capabilities is clear. However, reducing reliance on U.S. technology giants will demand sustained investment, coordinated policy action, and long-term strategic planning in an increasingly competitive global environment.

The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties

by News Editor

August 24, 2026

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

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Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.