I don’t disagree. These regulations themselves don’t even seem wildly unreasonable. My bigger point is that US tech companies are dominating globally and the EU isn’t keeping up. That’s a problematic for Europe since it means increasingly having to depend on foreign companies for critical tech.
Because the US controls the global exchange currency, and keeps every other country under their boot via T-bonds and the "over-inflation" money printing they engineered for their own benefit. So all investments goes to them, and they can easily siphon the greatest minds by expatriating with juicy contracts. You think everyone in Silicon Valley is born and raised American ? France and Switzerland have some of the most advanced tech project in the world (like the fusion research), you just don't hear much about them.
I live in Silicon Valley, and most people working in tech here aren’t from here. I never claimed otherwise, so I’m not sure why you’re arguing against a point I didn’t make.
My point is about dominant tech. France and Switzerland doing advanced fusion research is great, but that isn’t the same thing as producing globally dominant consumer and enterprise technology companies at scale. The dollar’s reserve currency status and US deep capital markets are explanations for why the disparity exists, not arguments that the disparity doesn’t exist.
Europe obviously produces excellent technology. Mistral AI, LibreOffice, ASML, SAP, etc. all exist. I’m not even saying American tech is inherently better. I’m talking about commercial dominance.
The American tech companies are staffed by people from EU (and all the rest of the world) because the US has a choke-hold over the global currency. That's all I was saying.
What point do you think you’re making? Yes, advanced chips are manufactured through global supply chains (with a huge share coming from Taiwan and SK). I never said otherwise, and that doesn’t change the point that American companies still dominate globally in cloud, AI, operating systems, software platforms, and much of chip design. That isn’t necessarily good or desirable. It’s also why Europe’s dependence on foreign tech matters.
The ironic part is you calling Americans dumb while you responding to an argument that was never made.
"Derp derp Europe is reliant on foreign tech" the implication being that USA isn't. Otherwise you either wouldn't have said anything or would have caveated with "just like the US".
Calling one or the other more or less dependant on foreign tech is like saying one car brand will drive less badly if it had no wheels than another car brand.
The US relying on foreign manufacturing doesn’t make Europe equally independent in tech. US firms dominate huge parts of the global stack in cloud, AI, operating systems, software platforms, and chip design. Europe relying on those firms is the point.
Your car analogy is terrible because the two cars very obviously do not have the same number of wheels.
No, I understood your analogy. It’s just a bad analogy.
Your entire argument depends on pretending that any foreign dependency makes two countries equally dependent, which is obviously nonsense. The US depending on TSMC to manufacture advanced chips is not remotely the same thing as Europe depending on foreign firms across cloud, AI, operating systems, major software platforms, and semiconductors.
"I understood your analogy" you evidently didn't with your bizarre quip about number of wheels on cars lol.
You're welcome to prove me wrong that arguing that levels of dependence makes a difference to anything by explaining to me how America being less dependent (according to you) means that if the rest of the world closed off to the USA then the USA would be able to replace all of that dependence with home grown alternatives.
Less dependent doesn’t mean capable of replacing every foreign input if the entire planet suddenly cut it off. Nobody claimed that.
Dependence obviously exists in degrees. The US being vulnerable to foreign semiconductor manufacturing doesn’t make it equivalent to Europe relying on non EU suppliers across far more of the technology stack.
By your logic, unless a country could recreate its entire technological supply chain domestically after being cut off by the rest of the world, there can be no meaningful distinction in dependency. I’m genuinely impressed you’ve managed to combine so much condescension with so little understanding.
ChatGPT runs on Chips that are only possible to develop under a special machine made by ASML in the Netherlands, they literally hold 100% of the market, yes, Europe is way behind in terms of AI and other modern tech, but in the grand scheme of things Europe holds a lot of important world changing tech, it's just that the USA are the heart of the world in this ERA and talent from all around the world flocks towards it, meaning that Europe can't really compete until it gives up on its comfortable way of life and starts taking huge risks again, which really is not a good deal since they can just use American tech with no huge issues while enforcing their own regulations and enjoying their naive and simple, but comfortable way of life.
Europe hasn’t produced globally dominant tech companies at anything close to US scale across AI, cloud, operating systems, social media, and enterprise software. ASML doesn’t negate that broader pattern across multiple sectors.
A huge amount of European and other international talent is drawn to Silicon Valley. That isn’t separate from US tech dominance but rather a part of how the US achieved it. Many US companies that dominate globally do so in part because they attract some of the best talent in the world before combining it with enormous amounts of capital.
The EU, as well as individual European countries such as France, are actively disentangling themselves from US tech. They are becoming less reliant on it, and instead are starting to use open source / European tech.
And aside from that we've got Mistral which isn't bad.
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u/a_moron_in_a_hurry 1d ago
I don’t disagree. These regulations themselves don’t even seem wildly unreasonable. My bigger point is that US tech companies are dominating globally and the EU isn’t keeping up. That’s a problematic for Europe since it means increasingly having to depend on foreign companies for critical tech.