1. Europe’s tech successes often benefit from openness to others’ innovation and tech adoption. ASML excelled in part b/c it leveraged other firms’ capabilities, and SAP benefitted from its transition to the cloud. Despite the benefits AI can now bring, EU firms' adoption varies by MS. 5/9

The EU’s 2025 update to its FDI screening framework reinforced this shift. But even before the latest clampdown, Chinese FDI in the EU had plummeted and shifted from M&A to greenfield projects, focused in the auto and battery sectors and increasingly located in member-states like Hungary. 3/

The 2010s were a European yard sale of high-tech firms - especially chip companies - to China, enabling Chinese investors to acquire intellectual property, know-how and supply-chain leverage. Following these takeovers, many member-states strengthened their FDI screening mechanisms. 2/