European Central Bank reports rising AI investment in Europe, but the US lead keeps growing

European companies are pouring more money into artificial intelligence than ever before. The problem is that American companies are pouring even more, even faster, and the gap between the two continents isn’t narrowing. It’s widening. ECB President Christine Lagarde laid out the numbers in a September 14 address, painting a picture of a continent that’s accelerating into an AI race it’s currently losing by a significant margin. Euro area firms are expected to direct roughly 10% of their total investment toward AI this year, up from about 9% in prior estimates. That sounds like progress until you learn that the US controls approximately 75% of the world’s AI computing capacity. Europe’s share sits at about 5%. Europe’s AI spending is rising, but context matters The growth in European AI investment isn’t trivial. AI-related borrowing accounted for roughly 25% of the overall increase in credit to euro area firms during the first quarter of 2026. More than half of euro area employees now use AI tools in their jobs, a figure that has doubled over the past two years. The rate of digital investment in the US has grown twice as fast as in Europe over the same two-year period. The uncomfort...