German companies consider US digital dependence a risk

Cers of 88% of German companies use products from suppliers in the United States and 31% consider themselves strongly dependent on them, and among those who view this dependence as a risk, more than 40% do not intend to take any action.

According to the institute, one of the reasons for the lack of action may be the additional costs associated with the reduction of this dependency, as well as the uncertainty about the availability of suppliers or customers to make similar investments.

The services sector is the most exposed, with 39% of the companies to consider themselves affected, while the construction sector has the lowest percentage (15%).

In the advertising and market studies sector, for example, 72% of companies consider themselves strongly dependent on US suppliers, but only 51% classify this dependence as very risky.

Among the companies that want to act to reduce exposure, substitution by European alternatives is the most targeted measure, by 34%, followed by diversification of suppliers, with 30%.

The creation of information technology infrastructures is mentioned by 18%.

The survey was carried out following the temporary suspension of access by foreign users to the most advanced Artificial Intelligence (IA) models of Anthropic, determined by the United States Department of Commerce in mid-June and raised at the end of that month.

The Institute warns, however, that the European capacity to offer alternatives remains limited, as the European Union (EU) represents less than 5% of the global computing capacity for AI applications.

“The will to change exists, but opportunities are lacking to do so,” said ifo president Clemens Fuest, advocating a significant acceleration of the construction of data centres and energy infrastructure in Europe, as well as reducing project approval deadlines.