Euro Area Firms Plan Major AI Investment as U.S. Lead Widens

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said euro area companies are planning major artificial-intelligence investment, but the United States continues to expand its advantage in digital spending, AI models and computing capacity.

Euro area firms are expected to direct about 10% of total investment to AI in 2026. AI-related borrowing accounted for about one-quarter of the growth in credit to euro area companies during the first quarter of 2026, while more than 50% of euro area workers now use AI at work.

The U.S. advantage is also visible in investment and workplace adoption. U.S. digital investment grew twice as fast as euro area digital investment over the past two years. U.S. workers spend two to three times as much of their working week using AI as workers in the largest euro area economies.

The United States produced 59 notable AI models in 2025, compared with 35 in China and one each in France and the United Kingdom. The U.S. hosts three-quarters of global AI computing capacity, while Europe hosts 5%.

Under baseline projections, Europe’s data-center shortfall will expand from 3 gigawatts in 2025 to roughly 20 gigawatts in 2036. Europe may need to spend up to €600 billion on chips and other data-center capacity during the coming decade to eliminate the shortfall.

Lagarde called for more domestic computing capacity, locally hosted models capable of handling most tasks and deeper capital markets that can support companies through years of losses.

“AI is that project,” Lagarde said.

Euro area households hold about €440 billion in U.S. technology companies, while European households save about €1.4 trillion annually. Lagarde said more of that capital should be directed toward European technology.

“Europe must first be able to deploy its savings at home,” she said.

Rapid AI adoption could raise productivity by up to 4% over a decade.