Securing Europe's Technological Sovereignty in 6G | Operational Brief

Europe’s technological sovereignty in sixth-generation (6G) mobile network faces increasing risks. Current analysis shows that Europe still produces only around 10% of the world’s semiconductors and remains highly dependent on imports for many critical digital technologies [1], while leading-edge chips are manufactured entirely outside European borders. The global telecommunications equipment market is dominated by a small number of large suppliers – especially Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia – creating oligopoly conditions that limit European strategic choices and increase vulnerability to supply-chain disruptions.

While citizen surveys revealed concerns about Europe’s competitive position, network reliability, and dependence on external actors, expert consultations with Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) projects confirmed six critical vulnerabilities requiring policy intervention: supply chain dependencies in critical components, fragmentation of global standards processes, risks of foreign government access to European infrastructure, integration with critical sectors creating cascading failure risks, regulatory fragmentation across Member States, and insufficient European capacity for independent technical assessment.

These findings underscore that 6G’s success depends not only on technological performance but on ensuring Europe can design, deploy, and govern networks in line with its democratic values while maintaining security and economic competitiveness. Against this backdrop, this brief examines the following question: How can Europe develop technological sovereignty for 6G that strengthens security, embeds European values, and maintains global interoperability without resorting to technological isolation? It proposes six priority recommendations: 1. Strengthen supply chain resilience through diversification, transparency mechanisms such as Software Bills of Materials (SBOM), and investment in European capacity; 2. Build internal expertise for independent 6G technical assessment, reducing dependence on vendor expertise for critical decisions; 3. Lead in global standards bodies to embed European values in technical specifications through active participation in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), O-RAN Alliance, and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI); 4. Harden systems against foreign government access and interference through zero-trust architectures and supply chain attestation; 5. Align with harmonised European approaches to security, certification, and deployment requirements; 6. Contribute to sovereignty-focused research, certification frameworks, and governance capacity building.