Europe has built a digital architecture that is heavily reliant on the U.S. and China. It depends heavily on the former for software, cloud services, artificial intelligence and online platforms, while relying on the latter for the hardware, components and critical minerals beneath them. Two dependencies, very different in nature, both creating vulnerabilities that are difficult to unwind.
In this episode, Gaurav, Andrew and Barbara explore how Europe became so exposed, and why what once looked like ordinary commercial reliance is now seen as a strategic vulnerability. They discuss Europe's response through regulation, industrial ambition and investment in home-grown capacity, and ask whether it can meaningfully reduce its reliance on others.
They also turn to the geopolitics: what if technology becomes a bargaining chip? Could Europe be squeezed from both sides at once? And is true independence even possible, or is resilience a more realistic goal?
