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2 months ago | 
cepa.org | Padraig Nolan |Oona Lagercrantz |Pablo Chavez |Matthew Eitel
The new European Commission came to office vowing to end overregulation and promote competitiveness. Its new Competitiveness Compass proposes policies to achieve this goal. The Compass acknowledges, in the words of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, that Europe must “fix our weaknesses to regain competitiveness.” With 70% of the new value created in the global economy over the next decade expected to be digitally enabled, Europe wants to stimulate innovation.
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2 months ago | 
cepa.org | Oona Lagercrantz |Pablo Chavez |Matthew Eitel |David Kirichenko
How do you reconcile 1,000 stakeholder views on a fast-moving technology, predicted to define the 21st century, in just two weeks? Europe’s AI Office, empowered to enforce the AI Act – the world’s first law governing artificial intelligence systems – is struggling to come up with answers. As deadlines loom, the new legislation – which aims to set a global standard for trustworthy AI – is generating major conflicts and complaints.
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2 months ago | 
cepa.org | Daniel Hamilton |Pablo Chavez |Matthew Eitel |Walter C. Clemens
The transatlantic partners are closer in their assessments of the China Challenge today than they were four years ago. When Donald Trump attended his first NATO summit, China was nothing more than an afterthought. NATO leaders now agree that Beijing challenges “our interests, security and values” and “present[s] systemic challenges to the rules-based international order.” Yet transatlantic efforts to meet the China Challenge have proven ineffective.
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2 months ago | 
cepa.org | Pablo Chavez |Matthew Eitel |David Kirichenko |Christopher Cytera
During the Biden administration’s closing days, the Commerce Department issued sweeping technology export controls, placing new limits on the export of advanced AI chips. The rules divided countries into three tiers. The top rung, Tier 1, allows a select group of 18 US allies and partners broad latitude to import and deploy advanced AI chips. Tier 2 countries — the vast majority of the world’s nations – face much more stringent restrictions.
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2 months ago | 
cepa.org | David Kirichenko |Oona Lagercrantz |Pablo Chavez |Matthew Eitel
Seemingly out of nowhere, a small Chinese startup called DeepSeek released one of the world’s most advanced AI models, rivaling those of OpenAI, Google, and other American tech leaders. Chinese engineers accomplished this feat at a fraction of the cost, using none of the expensive, cutting-edge and prohibited US chips. Wall Street reacted with a massive sell off of US AI companies. Star chipmaker Nvidia slid more than 17%, wiping out more than $600 billion of market value.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
cepa.org | Emil Avdaliani |Bill Echikson |Matthew Eitel |David Kagan
The official ceremony to mark the start of construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway was held on December 27. The event featured high-level officials from Beijing and Central Asian states and followed the signing of an investment agreement a week earlier. The line, which is designed to carry 10-12 million tons of cargo a year, will stretch approximately 486km (302 miles), linking Kashgar in Western China to Andijan in Uzbekistan and passing through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
cepa.org | Matthew Eitel |David Kagan |Francis Harris |Joshua Stein
It’s the controversial capstone of an aggressive chips campaign. As the Biden administration prepares to leave office, it plans to announce its most expansive export controls crackdown against China. Industry and lawmakers are split. Supporters say the moves will keep the US ahead in artificial intelligence. Opponents argue the plan will upend the global AI market — with dire unintended consequences.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
cepa.org | James Thomson |Christopher Cytera |Matthew Eitel |Oona Lagercrantz
After one of its high-speed passenger trains was derailed in northern Slovakia last year, the largest Czech rail operator České Dráhy sent a formal complaint to its Slovak counterpart, ŽSR, highlighting the poor condition of the track network in Slovakia. ŽSR’s CEO, while stressing his company’s commitment to safety, said the network was underfunded, something acknowledged by the Slovak Transport Ministry which referred to the poor state of railway infrastructure.
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Jul 29, 2024 | 
cepa.org | Matthew Eitel
It is a stark ultimatum to two close US allies: stop selling and servicing your chipmaking technology in China or we will cripple your industry. Unless Japan and the Netherlands restrict China’s access to previous-generation machines, the US reportedly could enforce existing — but so far unused — export controls that bar the sale of goods containing even minuscule amounts of American technology.
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May 17, 2024 | 
cepa.org | Ronan Murphy |Matthew Eitel |Christopher Cytera |Clara Riedenstein
The bipartisan Senate AI Work Group, known as the AI Gang, held months of discussion, hundreds of meetings, and nine forums. This week, it produced 19 pages of recommendations, launching a roadmap for US AI policy that called for $32 billion in public spending — but no concrete regulation. Unsurprisingly, large AI firms are pleased. Consumer groups and others are disappointed. Above all, the Senate action demonstrates the deep difference between the US and EU approaches to tech policy.
