On Friday in Dublin, leaders from the European Union gathered for the union’s inaugural artificial intelligence summit, confronting a substantial infrastructure deficit compared to international rivals.
With the continent lagging in chip manufacturing, the conference serves as a critical test for developing a unified policy to catch up with the United States and China. Aiming to secure billions of dollars in external technology investments, the 2023 European Chips Act originally targeted doubling Europe’s share of the global semiconductor production market from approximately 10 percent up to 20 percent by the year 2030.
“We want to be serious about this, and the only way to be competitive is to engage in the same practices, because otherwise you’re just never going to get manufacturing back to your shores,” Bruce Andrews, then-Intel’s corporate vice president, told Foreign Policy in 2024.
AI is the most important technology of our time. Europe must make the most of its benefits, from higher productivity to better public services. We must also manage the risks and changes it will bring – and help set global standards for responsible governance and safe,… pic.twitter.com/TSEp0jhtRQ
Despite recent gains—with Eurostat data showing 1 in 5 EU enterprises using at least one AI technology in 2025 compared to less than 1 in 10 a few years prior—installed data center capacity remains severely limited. The bloc holds 11.92 gigawatts, trailing far behind the United States at 53.73 gigawatts and China at 31.9 gigawatts.
“AI is the most important technology of our time,” European Council President António Costa wrote on X on Friday. “Europe must make the most of its benefits, from higher productivity to better public services. We must also manage the risks and changes it will bring—and help set global standards for responsible governance and safe, human-centric AI.”
Debates over European Representation in Peace Talks
Discussions in Dublin risk being overshadowed by debates over who will represent European interests in upcoming Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations. Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Thursday that he would permit European officials to join the next round of talks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also visiting Dublin this week for meetings with EU leadership, welcomed the concession. However, the composition of the European delegation remains undecided.
“If Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation,” Kushner said on Thursday.
Among the individuals whose names have been put forward for the position are Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign-policy chief, alongside Costa, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Meanwhile, the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday over admitted extramarital affairs—including one with a suspected Chinese spy—has added further turbulence to the summit.
Car Bombings in Russia
Russian authorities are investigating two separate car bombings in as many days targeting senior pro-Kremlin figures. An explosion on Thursday in St. Petersburg’s Pushkinsky District killed a senior military official believed to be a colonel in the country’s air force.
Sergei Zavorotniy, formerly a high-ranking advisor to exiled ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, sustained critical injuries on Friday in the Russian capital when a second car bomb detonated. Ukraine’s intelligence agency has previously conducted similar operations against Russian officers, though Kyiv has not commented on the latest blasts.
The attacks follow a fresh round of U.S.-mediated peace talks in Abu Dhabi that yielded little progress beyond a prisoner exchange agreement.
Iran Claims Radar Destruction While U.S. Shifts Policy
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed on Friday to have destroyed a U.S. early-warning radar system in Bahrain in retaliation for an American airstrike on an Iranian communications tower near the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command denied that the radar system sustained damage, stating that forces intercepted two Iranian drones heading toward Bahrain.
Simultaneously, U.S. President Donald Trump directed Vice President J.D. Vance to step away from the Iran portfolio to focus on alleged corruption in Democratic-run states and cities. Following recent midterm elections where Democrats achieved sweeping victories, Vance attributed those losses to the administration’s management of the war with Iran, prompting this portfolio reassignment. Vance has long had a heavy hand in U.S.-Iran negotiations.
