Many European defence officials are resisting Brussels' attempts to curb reliance on US tech giants, warning the move could leave Europe with inferior systems and greater cyber risks. As the continent races to re-arm amid Russian threats, officials acknowledge dependence on Google, Amazon, and Microsoft is a geopolitical vulnerability. In response, the European Commission has proposed a new law that would bar the use of foreign technology in the most sensitive European systems.

However, two senior EU defence officials and several defence contractors argue that using inferior European technology would leave the continent at greater risk, estimating the US had an eight- to ten-year lead in cloud and AI defence platforms. One official told the Financial Times, "We're still buying lots of American kit, frankly because we'd be less safe if we didn't." The Commission's Cloud and AI Development Act, presented in June, would force member states to evaluate the sensitivity of each public sector service, with the highest level requiring solely domestic tech. It estimates only 1 per cent of Europe's public services would clear that bar.

Airbus announced it will move some of its most critical applications from US cloud provider AWS to French rival Scaleway. Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen warned that foreign suppliers could use a "kill switch" to cut off critical computing capabilities, stating, "Our objective should be more practical: not to own every piece of the AI stack, but to ensure that no critical piece can simply be switched off."