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Deutsche Bundesbank Executive Board member Fritzi Köhler-Geib used a 1 October Brussels roundtable to argue that Europe should build frontier AI capabilities as part of a broader digital-sovereignty strategy. She proposed an “AI Airbus,” backed by European infrastructure, public demand and private investment, and pointed to photonic chips and EU-native cloud services as related priorities.
Deutsche Bundesbank Executive Board member Fritzi Köhler-Geib called for Europe to develop stronger frontier-AI capabilities as part of a wider digital-sovereignty strategy, proposing a European “AI Airbus” at a Brussels roundtable on 1 October. Her proposals also linked AI development to chip manufacturing, computing infrastructure, public-sector purchasing and investment, according to her introductory statement, published by the Bank for International Settlements on 8 October.
Köhler-Geib said Europe should treat artificial intelligence, chips, cloud services, robotics and quantum computing as connected areas rather than separate policy fields. She argued that progress in one area could support others, using computing capacity as an example: training and operating powerful AI models requires data centres and sufficient energy, while more energy-efficient chips could ease some of those constraints.
She pointed to photonic chips, which process information using optical signals, as a possible European contribution. Köhler-Geib said European research and innovation in the technology could support visual AI applications and described the chips as ready for mass production. Her statement did not provide production figures, named manufacturers or a timetable for scaling them.
For an “AI Airbus,” she proposed a European company that would build on an existing open-source model, host it on European infrastructure and advance its training. She said Europe needed at least one more European-trained large language model alongside Mistral, which she said should also receive further support. The statement presented this as a proposal, not as an announced company or funded project.
Europe’s proposed route to frontier AI
The speech matters because it frames AI capability as an issue of industrial capacity and strategic dependence, not just software development. Köhler-Geib said Europe risks remaining a price-taker in information technology if it cannot broaden the group of leading providers. She also argued that reliance on a narrow set of suppliers could affect prices and leave Europe with fewer opportunities to capture growth in the AI industry.
Her argument connects model development to the systems needed to run models: chips, data centres, cloud services, financing and customers. If governments and public institutions coordinate purchasing, they could provide early demand for European products, she said. That approach would not by itself establish that European alternatives can match the cost, performance or scale of established providers; those outcomes remain untested in the speech.
Köhler-Geib also described high-performance AI as relevant to cybersecurity and European industry, including manufacturing, engineering and chemicals. These are her stated reasons for treating the issue as economically and strategically significant. The statement does not set out a detailed security assessment or quantify the potential effects on jobs, prices or industrial output.
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The policies behind the proposal
Köhler-Geib said she had co-published a paper earlier in 2026 with Claudia Plattner, head of Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, and Kristina Sinemus, Hesse’s minister for digitalisation and innovation. She said it contained 37 implementation-oriented measures linking AI with chips, cloud, robotics and quantum computing. The roundtable statement does not reproduce those measures in detail.
She cited the Scaleup Europe Fund as an existing effort to improve venture-capital financing. She also referred to proposals including a savings and investment union, the “28th Regime” and “EU Inc.” as ways to support investment and cross-border business activity. The speech did not provide new announcements about the status, funding or implementation of those initiatives.
For public purchasing, Köhler-Geib described the Bundesbank’s tendering for EU-native cloud services and said the bank aimed to use such environments for a large part of its multi-cloud strategy. She also cited cooperation with EU-native cloud providers within Eurosystem integration programmes, including work related to bank reporting. In her view, purchasing coordinated at EU level could have a larger market impact than action by individual institutions.
““In order to succeed in joining the ‘Premier League’ of frontier AI, we must approach this topic within the broader context of digital sovereignty.””
— Fritzi Köhler-Geib, Deutsche Bundesbank Executive Board member
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Funding, partners and delivery remain open
The statement does not identify a company, founding partners, budget, governance model or launch date for the proposed AI Airbus. It also does not specify which existing open-source model such a company would use, how it would obtain computing capacity, or what “leapfrog its training” would involve in practice.
Köhler-Geib’s assertions about photonic chips being ready for mass production and offering substantially greater energy efficiency are not accompanied in the statement by independent performance data, production capacity or cost comparisons. No procurement commitment or public funding amount for their manufacture is specified. The statement also leaves unclear how EU-level demand would be coordinated across governments and institutions, and how the proposal would relate to existing European AI companies and programmes.
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From roundtable proposal to action
The statement does not announce a decision, funding round or formal process to establish the proposed company. The next steps would depend on whether European governments, institutions, investors and technology firms turn the proposals into specific commitments. Relevant milestones would include identifying a lead organisation, selecting a model and infrastructure, securing financing and setting out a timetable.
For the related chip and cloud proposals, readers can look for concrete procurement plans, manufacturing commitments and published technical or cost evidence. Köhler-Geib’s statement presents these as areas for action, but it does not say when any further decisions or announcements will be made.
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Key Questions
What did Fritzi Köhler-Geib propose at the roundtable?
She proposed a European “AI Airbus”: a company that would build on an open-source model, host it on European infrastructure and advance its training. She also called for stronger links between AI, chips, cloud services, public purchasing and private investment.
Has the AI Airbus been established?
No. The speech describes it as a proposal. It names no company, partners, funding, governance structure or launch date.
What role could photonic chips play?
Köhler-Geib said photonic chips could support AI computing with lower energy use than conventional chips and could be useful for visual AI. Her statement did not provide comparative figures or identify manufacturers and production volumes.
What is the Bundesbank doing on European cloud services?
Köhler-Geib said the Bundesbank was tendering for EU-native cloud services and aiming to use EU-native environments for a large part of its multi-cloud strategy. She also cited Eurosystem cooperation with European cloud providers in integration programmes.
What has not yet been confirmed?
No specific plan to launch the AI Airbus, allocate funding, scale photonic-chip production or coordinate EU-wide public demand was announced in the statement. The timing and implementation of those proposals remain unclear.
Source: primary
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