European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde has urged Europe to develop its own artificial intelligence models and expand domestic datacentre capacity, warning that reliance on US or Chinese technology leaves the continent vulnerable to economic coercion. Speaking in Vienna, Lagarde noted that the US produced 59 notable AI models last year and China 35, while France and the UK produced just one each; the US also hosts 75% of global AI computing capacity compared to Europe's 5%. She cautioned that if AI becomes embedded across border control, tax, transport, healthcare and banking, any withdrawal of access by a foreign power "would reach every sector at once" — giving that partner leverage "no trade partner has ever held over Europe."