With rare exceptions, US-based firms outstrip European competitors across the AI production line—from processor design and manufacturing, to data center capacity, to model and application development. In early January, the head of Belgium’s national cybersecurity organization told the Financial Times that Europe had “lost the internet,” and should make peace with a degree of reliance on US infrastructure. Already, they have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to minimizing their reliance on foreign AI suppliers. By publishing models for anyone to use or modify, the theory goes, breakthroughs achieved by European labs will compound as they're further refined by collaborators. The two sides have clashed particularly openly over the approach to policing American tech firms—especially X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk.