Semiconductors have become the fault line of modern geopolitics. The United States and China are investing aggressively in domestic chip production, treating semiconductors not as consumer goods but as strategic infrastructure. Europe, by contrast, spent decades optimising research while outsourcing large-scale manufacturing — until recent crises exposed how fragile that model had become.
Photonics is not a buzzword. It is the technology that carries the internet across oceans, enables chips to be etched at atomic scale and forms the foundation of future quantum systems. From fibre-optic communications to advanced manufacturing, photonics has become a critical enabler of modern societies. By 2030, the global photonics market is expected to exceed one trillion dollars. Yet at the heart of this rapidly expanding field lies a strategic chokepoint: extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography.
Artificial intelligence is transforming every industry, but nowhere is its impact as profound as in the defence sector. For decades, military innovation moved in predictable cycles, centred around large hardware projects and slow technological maturation. AI disrupts that rhythm entirely. It accelerates processes, shifts decision-making and moves the balance of power from who has the most equipment to who can interpret information the fastest.
Europe has spent the last decade defining itself through rules. From data protection to online platforms and now artificial intelligence, the continent has become the world’s most assertive regulatory power. It is a role Europe embraces proudly: the guardian of ethics, human rights and democratic values in a digital age often dominated by commercial or authoritarian interests.
