Key facts
- Virkkunen said the EU should collaborate closely only with very trusted partners on AI semiconductors, quantum, cybersecurity and satellites.
- She described the US as the EU's traditionally closest partner on security and technology, suggesting no intent to blame Washington.
- Virkkunen said Europe is very dependent on AI chips from a few American companies and aims to design and make more advanced chips.
- She did not say whether she considered Nvidia less trustworthy since the spy scandal report.
- Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment, POLITICO said.
The European Union should work only with very trusted partners on artificial intelligence microchips, the European Commission's executive vice president for tech sovereignty, Henna Virkkunen, said on November 10, 2026, in an interview with POLITICO at the Web Summit tech fair in Lisbon.
"When we speak about very critical technologies, like AI semiconductors and quantum technologies, cybersecurity, satellites ... it's very important that we are working very closely only with very trusted partners," Virkkunen said. She added: "We want to really keep the business secrets in Europe."
The comments were her first public remarks since Nvidia opened an internal investigation into whether its CEO was targeted by a Chinese intelligence operation, POLITICO reported. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an affair following a reported relationship with an executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, whom the U.S. government believes is a Chinese spy, according to the report.
Virkkunen did not detail whether she considered Nvidia less trustworthy since news of the spy scandal broke. Asked who she considers trusted partners, she described the U.S. as the EU's traditionally closest partner on security and technology, suggesting the bloc has no intention of blaming Washington and would prefer to collaborate to close the security gap. In limited areas of technology, she said, it is important to ensure there are no technological leakages.
Europe is heavily reliant on Nvidia chips because it has little production or design capacity for AI chips of its own, a gap the EU aims to close through an industrial policy push into chipmaking called the European Chips Act. "It's true that currently Europe is very dependent on AI chips on a few American companies and that's why it's important also that we are building up our own capacity to also design and also manufacture more advanced [chips] and also AI chips in the coming years," Virkkunen said. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment, POLITICO said.