More than one in five German companies that consider their reliance on US digital services risky plan no countermeasures, according to a survey of over 5,500 firms by the Ifo Institute.
Nearly 88% of German companies use US digital products, and 31% describe themselves as heavily dependent. Among those viewing that dependence as at least a moderate risk, 41.7% intend to take no action. Switching to European alternatives was the most cited response at 34%, followed by supplier diversification at 30%. Ifo President Clemens Fuest said "the willingness to switch is there, but the offering is missing".
The survey was prompted by the US Commerce Department's brief June order barring foreign access to Anthropic's most advanced AI models, a restriction later reversed. The European Union accounts for less than 5% of global AI computing capacity.