Today, Ansgar Baums and cloudahead.de are starting a public study to quantify the investments and capabilities required for a European tech stack.
Why this research initiative?
Europe’s digital sovereignty is at stake. Today, critical layers of the digital value chain — from raw materials and semiconductors to cloud services and AI platforms — are dominated by non-European providers. This creates strategic, economic, and security dependencies that limit Europe’s ability to act autonomously and enforce its own rules. While the debate on a European tech stack is gaining traction, there are still no reliable estimates of what such an initiative would require in terms of scope, cost, and long-term sustainability. Our project aims to close this gap in order to support policy makers and debate participants with a rough intuition of the economic dimension of this undertaking.
When will a European Tech Stack be successful?
In our research, we will outline scenarios that strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. Each scenario must not only address today’s vulnerabilities but also create tangible advantages. To be effective, these scenarios need to be robust enough to empower Europe with the following success factors:
| Success Factor | What it Means | Example of Success |
| Geopolitical Resilience | Europe can secure access to critical hardware and services even during crises | European chip production ensures supply despite a Taiwan/China conflict |
| Strategic Autonomy | European providers can deliver essential technologies without foreign leverage | EU-based cloud platforms remain available regardless of U.S. political decisions |
| Data Sovereignty | European laws govern and protect data, independent of non-EU jurisdictions | Sensitive EU data is processed only in infrastructures bound by EU law in theory and practice |
| Cybersecurity Assurance | Hardware and software are transparent, verifiable, and free from hidden risks | European-made routers strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure |
| Innovation Leadership | Europe develops and commercializes next-gen technologies domestically with local labor & capital | European AI labs train foundation models that compete globally |
A European Tech Stack will be successful when competitive capabilities across all layers not only exist on paper, but demonstrably deliver these success factors — turning resilience, autonomy, sovereignty, security, and innovation into lasting strengths and market opportunities for European players.
What is a European Tech Stack?
A European Tech Stack refers to a coherent set of technologies, infrastructures, and services that are developed, operated, and governed by European actors. It spans the entire digital value chain: from secure access to raw materials and semiconductor production, to network infrastructure, cloud platforms, software ecosystems, financial services, and artificial intelligence. The goal is not to replace global collaboration, but to ensure that Europe has credible, competitive options at every layer.
While the general term “European Tech Stack” is widely used, there is no concrete definition of what it actually entails. To make it tangible, we propose assessing the following components:
| Component | Scope / Examples |
| Raw materials & processing | Access to rare earths, silicon refinements, specialty metals; European refining and recycling capacity |
| Network components | Routers, firewalls, network security systems, 5G/6G base stations, industrial IoT connectivity devices |
| Network infrastructure | Terrestrial fiber networks, EU participation in global submarine cables, independent satellite constellations |
| IT hardware | Design & production of CPUs, GPUs, storage systems, and other semiconductor-based components |
| Cloud infrastructure | IaaS & PaaS providers, enterprise governance frameworks, IAM solutions, sovereign cloud environments |
| Key software ecosystems | Workplace tools, ERP systems, productivity suites, CMS, middleware — ideally open standards-based |
| Financial infrastructures | EU alternatives in payment processing, credit cards, clearing systems, instant payments, BNPL options |
| End-user devices | European capacity for PCs, smartphones, and secure mobile operating systems |
| Artificial intelligence | Large-scale training & deployment of foundation models (LLMs, multimodal AI), sector-specific AI apps |
What is the core challenge of building European players across all layers
While the public discourse around digital sovereignty is mostly circling around political, ethical, legal and technical questions, the actual hurdle lies in the market and business dynamics of the digital economy.
Most segments of the value chain are already dominated by powerful incumbents from the U.S. and Asia, who benefit from massive economies of scale, high switching costs for customers, and entrenched network effects. For European late entrants, competing in these mature markets means overcoming substantial barriers: building credibility, scaling significantly, and securing sustainable financing to remain innovative over multiple technology cycles.
What is the methodology of our analysis?
To make the discussion about a European Tech Stack concrete, we are following a step-by-step approach. Each step is designed to build transparency, invite feedback, and integrate expertise from both technology and business perspectives.
| Step | Description | Comments / Examples |
| Publish our initiative | Announce the project publicly and explain its goals and approach. | This blog post on cloudahead.de. |
| Public sparring (criteria & scope) | Invite discussion about success criteria, necessary stack components, and methodological approach. | Open calls for feedback, comments from readers and experts. |
| Cross-component expert interviews | Conduct interviews with experts for overarching issues | e.g. comparative advantage, public management, market entry, and innovation theory |
| Component-specific expert interviews | Conduct interviews with experts for each element of the digital value chain. | e.g. cloud, chips, raw materials |
| Summarize insights in whitepaper | Consolidate findings into a structured report. | Whitepaper to be shared as reference for policy and industry. |
| Public sparring (results) | Public discussion rounds or follow-up blog posts. |
The core challenge of assessing the cost of establishing a successful European entity for each component of the digital value chain will not be approached by a single, strict methodology. Our aim is not to deliver exact figures, but to provide a validated intuition about the total size of the endeavor. To achieve this, we will combine different approaches, such as:
- Estimating the takeover cost of a comparable company (e.g., VMware by Broadcom).
- Analyzing balance sheets from other late entrants (e.g., Google’s investments in the cloud market).
- Estimating migration costs for companies switching to an existing European provider (e.g. existing LTE networks).
- Exploring other relevant methods where appropriate.
Expert interviews will be released step by step to ensure transparency and engagement, while the full whitepaper will follow after synthesizing all results.
How can I contribute?
We are looking for experts, practitioners, and critical voices who want to shape this project with us. You can contribute by sharing feedback on our success criteria, pointing us to relevant case studies, or joining an interview on your area of expertise. We are especially interested in perspectives that combine technological know-how with business or policy experience. Every contribution helps us build a clearer, more realistic picture of what a European Tech Stack would take.
