sovereign ai2 articles
Sovereign AI Is a Distraction, Not a Strategy
Cory Doctorow argues that the push for "sovereign AI" is misguided, as AI remains a money-losing technology that has consistently underperformed its promises and would cause little real economic harm if suddenly switched off. He contends that the far greater threat to other nations lies in their dependence on everyday American software and infrastructure — such as Microsoft Office or agricultural technology — rather than AI chatbots. The article broadly agrees, concluding that countries like those in Europe should prioritise building independent alternatives to critical digital infrastructure.
FuriosaAI Brings Its Power-Sipping AI Chips to European Datacentres
South Korean AI chip startup FuriosaAI has expanded into Europe, deploying its power-efficient RNGD AI accelerators at Equinix's datacenter in Lisbon, Portugal, to meet growing demand for sovereign AI compute. The RNGD cards are notable for their low 180W power consumption compared to rivals like Nvidia, and can run large enterprise AI models in standard air-cooled datacenter racks. The European expansion is also seen as a stepping stone to building brand recognition ahead of a next-generation accelerator being developed in partnership with Broadcom, which will offer greater performance and scalability but is unlikely to arrive soon due to its reliance on HBM4 memory.