Overview
- A draft Cloud and AI Development Act, reported publicly this week, won public backing from 13 European cloud firms and several EU lawmakers and NGOs, signaling coordinated industry support for the Commission’s plan.
- The draft would add mandatory non-price award criteria for strategic tenders, require software or hardware developed in the EU for some contracts, and give the Commission a central purchasing role for member states.
- It would create fast‑track approvals and preferential grid access for data centres that use European-made chips and energy‑saving designs, tying procurement rules to the bloc’s broader chips and infrastructure plans.
- The measures could materially limit access by U.S. hyperscalers to highly sensitive government projects because Amazon, Microsoft and Google currently hold roughly two thirds of the cloud market in Europe.
- The package still needs approval from EU governments and the European Parliament, and its adoption could shift public spending to EU suppliers while prompting diplomatic pushback from Washington and supply‑chain and rollout challenges.