Digital sovereignty wanted: Europe is without power

Artificial intelligence is not just software, it is infrastructure. And like every critical infrastructure, it needs raw material. In this case: electricity. A lot of it. Silently, models like GPT-5 or Gemini Ultra are redesigning not only the future of technology, but also the physical foundations of geopolitics.

According to the International Energy Agency, global data centers will exceed 1,000 terawatt-hours of consumption by 2026: as much as the entire Japan. Generative AI could come to represent 10% of that. Behind every prompt there is a bill. And behind every bill, a political choice.

In the United States this choice is clear. A de facto alliance between the federal government and big tech pushes the construction of an AI infrastructure that is also an energy infrastructure: regulatory simplification, public capital, development of modular nuclear plants, conversion of old coal plants. Goldman Sachs estimates a +165% increase in energy demand from American data centers by 2030. But it is a growth that is governed, not suffered.

In China, speed is everything. Fewer environmental constraints, fewer debates, more verticality. The goal is to dominate scale. It is Silicon Valley with the five-year plans.

And Europe? Europe regulates. Discusses. Launches 20-billion plans for AI gigafactories but without explaining with what energy they will be powered. Meanwhile, it takes on average three to five years to connect a large data center to the electrical grid. National grids are fragmented, permits are slow, strategic vision is absent. In Ireland, data centers will reach 30% of national electricity consumption: moratoriums are already being discussed. In Italy, the debate has only just begun.

The paradox is double. On one hand, the risk of industrial irrelevance: AI will be built elsewhere, and with it will go research, capital, skills. On the other hand, the risk of ecological hypocrisy: without a serious energy plan, European data centers will be powered by gas or coal, just while Brussels tells the world the fairy tale of the green transition.

And yet the solutions exist. From liquid-cooling technologies to high-efficiency chips, to the Norwegian models powered by hydroelectricity and designed to reuse heat. But what is needed is an industrial policy, not just ethical regulation. Time is needed, but above all a different idea of time.

AI is the new theater of power. And whoever controls the energy that powers it sets the rules of the game. Europe can still be there. But it must understand that digital sovereignty is also built with turbines, cables, and chips. Not only with ethical codes.