2025 has certainly been eventful. But while Trump 2.0 has been dominating the headlines, it was one of President Biden’s final acts of office that really caught my eye. Namely, his vow to cap the number of exports of US-designed GPUs worldwide.

Considering titans across the industry call the States home, it would be very easy for the EU to view this crackdown as a catastrophe. But in my mind, there’s a real opportunity here for the bloc to foster innovation, bolster its semis players, and build AI sovereignty. In short, an open door to spur homegrown AI innovation across the continent.

Of course, I admit this is a very bullish take. The policy shift from the Capitol wasn’t met with unanimous positivity, and figureheads at Nvidia even suggested it could threaten the US’ AI leadership.

Perhaps they were right; with DeepSeek’s recent emergence, there’s proof there’s more space in the AI race than meets the eye. We’ve just been privy to the sector equivalent of David vs Goliath – and if the EU should learn anything from the Blue Whale’s disruptive breakthrough, it’s that there’s every chance AI leadership made in Europe can and should be a possibility.

To make that a reality, however, there are a few steps the bloc must take.

First, European policymakers have to cut the unnecessary red tape. While China and the US are competing in a fiery AI race, the EU is two steps back. We’re stuck in a vicious cycle of bureaucracy, endless regulations, committee meetings, and policy documents. To really let innovation thrive, it’s key that we give the enterprises and universities that have the ideas the breathing space to develop.

That’s not to say they’ve not caught on already. Just very recently, it was announced that the EU is looking to cut impeding business regulations and catalyse its development of AI, biotech, and affordable clean energy. While it shouldn’t have taken Trump’s return to ignite this wake-up call, I’m glad the bloc’s now re-evaluating its global competitiveness and productivity gap. We have to foster a business ecosystem that’s supportive and sympathetic to its innovators.

But a change in mindset isn’t enough; we have to ensure the incubators of AI innovation – as mentioned, our universities, startups, and other enterprises – are well and sustainably funded. Unfortunately, it’s too often that European businesses look further ashore in the lifecycle of their development and growth. Grants, subsidies and the like have to be freely open. Projects spearheaded by the EU itself have to exist to push widespread technological development.

The US’ Stargate Project is a good example. In short, it will see the government bringing together giants across the AI ecosystem – OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank – to commit a mammoth $500 billion to digital infrastructure. It’s these headline-grabbing government-private sector partnerships that the EU needs to do more of. If it really wants to become competitive on the global stage, it not only has to listen to but actively collaborate with the industry.

Luckily, we’ve seen early signs that the EU is beginning to unlock these much-needed billion-euro investments. At the recent AI Summit in Paris, Ursula von der Leyen pledged to mobilise €200 billion to bolster the EU’s AI sector, while President Macron unveiled €109 billion worth of investments for France alone.

These commitments are an encouraging step in the right direction, but now the EU must walk the walk. Ensuring the continent has enough energy, compute power, and critical digital infrastructure will be key in making the money count. After all, if AI startups can’t get their hands on the infrastructure and GPUs they need, their innovations will struggle to get off the ground.

That leads me to my main point. While, admittedly, most of Western Europe won’t be impacted by the US’ GPU crackdown – 18 nations are exempt from the caps – that doesn’t mean the EU should sit on its hands.

Biden’s policy shift has shown how easily the global GPU market can be disrupted. With restrictions in place, the EU has a real opportunity to build its contributions to the global chip value chain – and build on its already 10 percent share of the global microchips market. Within its own borders, there’s also a real open goal to build and develop homegrown European AI sovereignty and secure its own stockpile of GPUs.

Currently, across Europe, the barriers to innovation are too high, and the environment to develop and scale businesses is fairly lacklustre. Now, Biden’s policy move warrants a wholesale pivot. The EU should be looking to cement its semiconductor industry as a true global player in the wider AI market, and should be looking to re-establish itself as a true sandbox of technological innovation.

What Biden did in his final days of office is no checkmate. A new dawn of GPU players and innovation is quite possibly on the horizon – and if it takes the right steps, the EU could be at its very forefront.