Trump's $500 Billion AI Venture Sparks European Calls for Competitive Investment

Trump AI plan exposes threat of Europe 'surrendering' to big tech

Donald Trump's big AI announcement has turned heads on both sides of the Atlantic. Trump revealed this week that OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle have formed a joint venture -- called Stargate -- that will invest $500bn in AI infrastructure. The companies said $100bn of the funding was available immediately. The rest would be deployed over the next four years. Trump billed Stargate as "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history." He added that the project would ensure "the future of technology" is in the US. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, had another bold prediction. He said the venture would drive "artificial superintelligence." European tech leaders echoed the sentiment -- but fear that the continent will become beholden to American power. David Villalón, the CEO and co-founder of Spanish AI startup Maisa, exemplified this blend of excitement and alarm. "This massive investment shows that the next stage in the growth of AI -- Artificial Superintelligence -- is no longer a fringe concept but an inevitable reality requiring unprecedented investment in infrastructure, akin to laying down the tracks for the next Industrial Revolution," he said. Villalón added that the transition requires powerful new computing capacity. Stargate will bring a big dose of this to the US. European tech leaders have called for the continent to react "Without large-scale capital commitments and a bold approach to AI infrastructure, Europe risks surrendering its future to global players who control the fuel of tomorrow," Villalón said. Europe's AI worries Villalón pointed to the example of his home country. He believes Spain has "immense potential" in renewables, but needs a major funding boost to remain globally competitive and strategically independent. "Spain is spending peanuts on vacuous publicity AI projects, while ignoring, or not understanding, what's needed -- compute," he said. Similar anxieties have reverberated across Europe. Jan Marquardt, the CEO of German startup Zivee, warned that AI companies need strong infrastructure, big funding, and minimal regulation, "all of which is available in the USA -- and not in Europe." Christian Klein, the CEO of German tech SAP, added that Stargate should be "a wake-up call" for the continent. Villalón shares their concerns. "To use a football analogy, Europe is currently in the relegation zone while USA and China -- with their budgets, quality and ambition -- are operating in the Champions League," he said.

European CEOs Call for Investment in AI Infrastructure | PYMNTS.com

President Donald Trump's announcement of Stargate, a $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, reportedly spurred calls for a similar initiative in Europe. SAP CEO Christian Klein told CNBC in a report posted Thursday (Jan. 23) that Europe's lawmakers and businesses should work to implement AI, as the technology will boost the competitiveness of all industries. "My hope is that ... everything that's happened in the United States is certainly a wake-up call," Klein said, per the report. "We need to see proof, but I hope now Europe comes together and form a union in digitization, it's super important." Siemens CEO Roland Busch said in the report that Europe needs more data centers to power AI tools. "We would appreciate more compute power in Europe, and that's something we have to tackle as well," Busch said, per the report. Schneider Electric CEO Olivier Blum, whose company will participate in the U.S. AI infrastructure initiative as part of Nvidia's supply chain, told CNBC that governments should cooperate on AI because companies are increasingly global. "So, government also has to understand that if they want to have their own domestic companies to be successful outside their home country, they need to find some common agreement," Blum said, according to the report. It was reported Wednesday (Jan. 22) that IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said during a panel at the World Economic Forum that regulations should be a "light touch" but the EU Artificial Intelligence Act is "a sledgehammer." Krishna added that there is a place for a heavy-handed approach: AI systems that pose extreme risk. The European Union is set to publish a draft report focused on competitiveness, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The Competitiveness Compass report, which will be released within a month, will propose establishing an agency that will invest in strategic technologies, building infrastructure for AI, cutting regulation, improving access to funding, lowering energy costs and boosting access to critical materials, the report said. An earlier study found that the EU needs to invest 800 billion euros a year through 2030 to improve its competitiveness, a level of investment that the continent hasn't seen since the 1970s, according to the report.