Want digital sovereignty? That'll be 1% of your GDP into AI infrastructure please
- Reference: 1769780566
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/30/1pc_gdp_ai_gartner/
- Source link:
The consultant claims digital sovereignty will lead to countries being locked into region-specific AI platforms based on proprietary contextual data. This means their domestic AI stacks may be bespoke, with reduced collaboration and duplication of effort driving up the cost.
"Countries with digital sovereignty goals are increasing investment in domestic AI stacks as they look for alternatives to the closed US model, including computing power, datacenters, infrastructure and models aligned with local laws, culture, and region," said Gartner VP Analyst Gaurav Gupta.
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Gartner reckons 35 percent of countries will be locked into region-specific systems by next year.
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Localized models deliver more contextual value, outperforming non-customized global models in applications such as education, legal compliance, and public services, Gartner says, especially in non-English languages.
Concerns over digital or data sovereignty have been around for years with the growing dominance of US tech giants. But these were turbocharged last year following the inauguration of President Trump, whose behavior has at times been [4]erratic and his policies often punitive.
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Many of the largest AI companies are either American or US-owned, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella [6]argued recently that AI sovereignty is less about where the application runs and more about who controls it.
The problem for Europe and other regions in their quest for digital sovereignty is the [7]dependency on US cloud infrastructure, hence the need for nations to spend more on AI infrastructure of their own.
[8]Euro firms must ditch Uncle Sam's clouds and go EU-native
[9]IBM says AI is insane in the mainframe as z17 sales surge
[10]European firms push on with AI pilots even as payoff doubts grow
[11]France to replace US videoconferencing wares with unfortunately named sovereign alternative
"Datacenters and AI factory infrastructure form the critical backbone of the AI stack that enables AI sovereignty," claimed Gupta.
"AI factory" is an industry buzzword that essentially means a server farm dedicated to AI processing.
"As a result, datacenters and AI factory infrastructure will see explosive build-up and investment going forward, propelling a few companies that control the AI stack to achieve double-digit, trillion-dollar valuations," Gupta said.
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However, 1 percent of GDP – the total value of a country's entire economic activity – is a substantial amount. In the UK, for example, this would equate to about £30 billion ($39 billion).
This is overshadowed by many of the US tech giants, which are already [13]investing more into infrastructure for AI than the entire GDP of some countries. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXzjvDTVGpasd3I8RggFfwAAAtU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXzjvDTVGpasd3I8RggFfwAAAtU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXzjvDTVGpasd3I8RggFfwAAAtU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/21/american_genius_says_dont_panic/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXzjvDTVGpasd3I8RggFfwAAAtU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/21/nadella_ai_sovereignty_wef/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/22/europe_gets_serious_about_cutting/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/30/euro_firms_must_ditch_us/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/ibm_q4_2025/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/emea_ai_idc_lenovo/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/france_videoconferencing_visio/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXzjvDTVGpasd3I8RggFfwAAAtU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/meta_2026_infrastructure_spend/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Er
What has AI got to do with "digital sovereignty"?
Can't my digital sovereignty just be a self-hosted database ?
Re: Er
I came here to ask the same thing
Why the hell does everything to do with a computer automatically mean “AI”???
If you want “digital sovereignty” then what you need is replacements for Amazon and MS and Googlies “cloud” services. And replacements for MS word etc. And all the other stuff that goes with it. Specifically, NOT “AI” which is just a money pit with close-to-zero value
Re: Er
No.
Digital sovereignty is a product sold exclusively by big tech.
Want digital sovereignty? Then pay up lest you find your infra doing what another interested party (who did pay) wants it to do.
What are you gonna do about it? Run linux instead of windows? use foss exclusively? lol! You couldn't run a database without oracle. you can't even run your MoD data analytics without palantir.
You sold your digital sovereignty to your business chums, and now they've got you by the satnads.
The problem here is obvious
Conflating digital sovereignty with AI.
Work on sorting out sovereignty, and deal with AI once somebody puts forth a valid use case to justify the expenditure ("because $COUNTRY is doing it" is not a valid case).
Putting the two together like this sounds like the work of somebody who is making money off the status quo, so "scary big expensive" (FUD) and therefore nothing gets done.
Re: The problem here is obvious
Absolutely, this is an advice made to keep the AI bubble from bursting, hoping every government will pump money into the AI sloppification machine. And it will work. It is already working. Europe is spending big on slop generators.
Well. You know...
.. this is Gartner.
Digital sovereignty is staying away from AI.
I had to scroll this far down.
Need to also consider what is being spent by countries outside the US, paying for US cloud services currently. Big Tech in the US is using foreign countries payments to fund their global cloud service.
The EU should be scaling to just run their own services so they do not need to be at the scale of what US Big Tech is currently doing. It is not about replicating what Big Tech is currently doing at the same scale. Also, what the EU or others put in place is an investment. Right now they're just paying to rent services with zero ownership of anything.
Good grief
1. Yes, as observed, AI is not sovereignty
2. First solution: wait a couple of years until the AI hype collapses and a bunch of data centres become surprisingly cheap.
3. Second solution: Invest in actual digital sovereignty without Gartner (an American firm) being involved in any way whatsoever.
Note that the "cost" of digital sovereignty is likely to be offset by the savings of not sending all of your money to foreign owned companies, and the benefit of having domestic talent nurtured by a healthy industry that develops solutions more accurately targeted to local needs.
Quo vadis?
The USA appears rapidly to be approaching a cusp dividing harmony from disaster: outcomes differing dramatically as do those following the 'crisis' of a fever.
Body temperature defines the course towards fever crises. Stock market indices shall do likewise for AI induced malady.
Re: Quo vadis?
The circular IOUs between a handful of corporations which are propping up US economic statistics is going to run out of steam soon.
Correction
Countries intent on digital koolaid sovereignty will need to invest at least 1 percent of their entire gross domestic product (GDP) into AI infrastructure nVidia/AMD by 2029, according to analyst biz Gartner.
FTFY