While China and the United States innovate, Europe seeks to regulate even more

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History is repeating itself in Silicon Valley and Shenzhen: colossal investments in innovation and major technological advances to fuel a frantic race for progress. Meanwhile, in Brussels, discussions are dragging on around the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a regulation that could paradoxically slow down Europe's technological boom instead of stimulating it. European companies, caught between American pressure and the regulatory ambitions of Brussels, are worried about their competitiveness.

It's understandable, but should Europe comply with the rules of the world?? Aren't we the first to have succeeded in regulating the use of AI and to have created the GDPR, which has since become a reference point? The balance is increasingly difficult to find.

European paralysis

The American administration has opened the floodgates to dominate the technologies of the future: $280 billion via the CHIPS Act for semiconductors, massive tax incentives for the electric battery industry, public-private partnerships in artificial intelligence.

China is fighting back with its “Made in China 2025 ” plan, pumping hundreds of billions into leading technologieslike 5G, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and robotics. Result: some entities; like the start-up DeepSeek; emerge from nowhere and make the big names in American tech tremble, and others, more established, like BYD, are real steamrollers.

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A dazzling technological acceleration on the part of the two major world powers that Europe seems to be missing by multiplying regulatory frameworks. A situation that has prompted 36 major players in European digital technology to call on the Commission in an open letter. “Some key players are deliberately circumventing the law, using façade strategies or going as far as outright defiance, hampering innovation and blocking the growth of companies, large and small ”, warn the signatories, which include Spotify and Threema.

A European awakening is still possible ?

Donald Trump’s threat to respond to European fines with retaliatory measures highlights a paradox: Europe has a market powerful enough to worry the American giants, but is struggling to transform this regulatory strength into an industrial advantage. As the Commission “reviews” its investigations into Apple, Meta and Google, European entrepreneurs are alarmed that their continent is becoming a mere playground for foreign innovation.

“The EU should not compromise on this fundamental pillar of its treaties because of the challenge posed by certain powerful companies“, the signatories argue. But beyond regulatory firmness, Europe must urgently rethink its industrial strategy. Without an ambitious innovation policy combining massive investments and a smart regulatory framework, the Old Continent risks becoming a passive spectator of the ongoing technological revolution. From a mere normative power to a land of innovation: Brussels' response to this open letter will determine which path Europe chooses to take.

• The United States and China are investing massively in the technologies of the future, leaving Europe behind.
• Major European tech companies warn of the impact of excessive regulations that are hampering their competitiveness.
• Europe must find a balance between regulation and innovation to avoid becoming a spectator of the global technological revolution.

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