While the EU remains a distant third in comparing the investment in artificial intelligence with the United States and China, Nvidia's (NVDA, Financial) chief executive officer, Jensen Huang, snaps the EU awake. During the launch of the new supercomputer Gefion in Copenhagen, Huanga stressed the centrality of data and appealed to the EU to expedite AI. Nevertheless, Europe's engagements in the AI sphere are relatively low, although European states were the first to set strict AI regulations; new players are overtaking European newcomers like Mistral from France and Aleph Alpha from Germany.
Gefion is a research project established by Nvidia, a leading maker of GPU's crucial for AI processes, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the Danish Export and Investment Fund. Packed with 1,528 GPUs, this supercomputer is expected to transform drug discovery and life sciences in pursuit of what Huang calls this decade of digital biology.
At the same time, the EU is increasingly scrutinizing antitrust actions, especially those geared toward Big Tech and foreign subsidies. In her statement, Teresa Ribera, the nominee for the next antitrust chief, assured us that she would strictly enforce the Digital Markets Act so that unfair competition would not work against European companies. This encompasses protecting small- to medium-sized enterprises from losing deals with other companies and the competitive mismatch challenges that EU firms face globally, particularly in clean technology.
The forthcoming industrial strategy of the Union, expected to connect with broad regulatory changes and possibly rebalance state aid, is designed to generate a competitive and long-lasting industrial structure. As these challenges unfold across such a diverse strategic landscape in Europe, the proper combination of vital artificial intelligence and potent antitrust policies and measures will be indispensable for the continent's economy and technology.
