For much of the past decade, the global technology debate has been framed around a misleading opposition: innovation versus regulation. In the United States, platforms scaled first and negotiated governance later. In China, innovation advanced within systems of state command. Europe, meanwhile, has often tried to civilise markets only after they had already reshaped society. Singapore never fully accepted this framing.
Artificial intelligence debates in Europe often revolve around regulation, sovereignty and the dominance of American platforms. Less visible, but no less consequential, is the role played by non-European industrial powers whose technologies are deeply embedded in Europe’s digital and economic fabric. Samsung is one of them.
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.
Salesforce’s introduction of Agentforce 360 marks a new phase in the evolution of artificial intelligence inside organisations. Rather than positioning AI as a standalone automation layer, the concept of the “Agentic Enterprise” frames AI agents as collaborators: systems designed to support employees in decision-making, coordination and execution. While this approach is technologically ambitious, its European rollout reveals challenges that go far beyond software adoption.
For decades, ICT distributors played a largely technical and operational role in Europe’s digital economy. They moved hardware and software efficiently through the market, provided credit and logistics and remained mostly invisible to end users. Their importance was measured in scale and reliability, not strategy. That role is now fundamentally changing.
