These four charts show how reliant Europe is on U.S. digital infrastructure

As tensions rise between the European Union and the United States, a concerning trend emerges: Europe’s heavy reliance on American technology firms persists, despite efforts to achieve greater digital independence. Following his return to the presidency, U.S. President Donald Trump introduced tariffs affecting the continent, generating anxiety in Europe. His initial comments about potentially pursuing military options for Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, added to the uncertainty, although he later retracted those statements. Amidst these geopolitical struggles, European governments are striving for digital autonomy. However, critics highlight a significant risk associated with this dependency. The Cloud Act allows U.S. law enforcement to access user data stored by American companies, regardless of its location. This concern looms large as U.S. tech giants continue to dominate the European digital landscape. Data from Synergy Research Group reveals that European cloud providers have experienced a dramatic decline, controlling less than 15% of the market by 2025. John Dinsdale, the chief analyst at Synergy, emphasized the challenges ahead: "It will be incredibly difficult for European cloud providers to meaningfully reverse the market share trend. This is a game of scale. To be a leading player, substantial investments in research, service development, technical infrastructure, customer support, and global branding are essential." Amazon, Microsoft, and Google collectively hold over 70% of the European cloud market. In contrast, the largest European players, SAP and Deutsche Telekom, each command just 2%. Dinsdale noted, "If we could revisit the last decade, perhaps one or two European firms could have positioned themselves as leaders in the cloud space, but they missed that opportunity. Amazon gained a significant advantage by entering the market first. Microsoft and Google followed suit, albeit later." While SAP leads Europe’s enterprise software market, a staggering 59% of this sector is dominated by U.S. companies. Oracle and Microsoft account for 18% and 10%, respectively. This data encompasses all of Europe, including non-EU nations like the UK and Switzerland. SAP CEO Christian Klein recently remarked that political leaders are increasingly focused on technology as a means to secure sovereignty, emphasizing the importance of data management and software independence. In the realm of customer relationship management, Salesforce reigns supreme, with SAP trailing in second place, according to a report from the European Parliament that specifically analyzed the 27 EU member states.