Big companies warn lack of ‘AI openness’ could hit investment in Europe

Multinationals say they now score countries’ “AI openness” — talent, infrastructure, regulation — before parking R&D, manufacturing and ops spend, putting much of continental Europe at a disadvantage to the US. Prysmian CSO Maria Cristina Bifulco warns that without AI-friendly policy, regulatory certainty and clear demand for local production, investment moves elsewhere. A large US bank uses a traffic-light system (data-protection rules for training on client data; government AI priority); some mainland European countries are “red,” the UK “greenish,” so headcount growth skews away from red markets. Slaughter and May’s Laura Houston notes the EU went furthest with the AI Act, so cost/complexity is part of build-Europe-vs-US/Asia maths; the UK has kept a lighter touch despite creative-industry copyright pressure. Novo Nordisk put its AWS AI co-innovation hub in London for talent and responsible-operation room. CER’s Zach Meyers flags EU data-centre build friction, high energy prices, slower AI take-up and thinner funding vs the US. Commission response: world-class industrial data and AI gigafactories to expand compute. Aveva/Schneider’s Caspar Herzberg says AI maturity/openness will enter investment criteria alongside talent, power, grids and frontier research. Additional reporting: Tim Bradshaw.