Sovereign AI: Infrastructure, Influence, and the Global Power Shift

In a world where compute is currency and data is diplomacy, the idea of sovereign AI is gaining traction—but it’s more than just a political talking point. At RAISE Paris 2025, Piotr Tomasik, Co-Founder and President of TensorWave, joined leaders from Oracle, Clarifai, and others to explore whether sovereignty in AI is achievable—or even desirable.

Infrastructure First, Everything Else Later

Piotr kept it blunt: “If you don’t have power and space, you can’t have sovereignty.” The panel agreed that infrastructure—not software, not data—is the foundational layer. Without local data centers, access to cheap energy, and supply chain control, a nation (or company) is simply renting progress.

Talent, Not Talk, Wins the Race

While Europe talks about sovereignty, the U.S. and China are executing. “Talent is the differentiator,” Piotr emphasized. “And Europe is struggling to compete in the global AI talent war.” In the short term, it’s not just about national ideals—it’s about hiring, scaling, and shipping faster than your competitors.

Pragmatism Over Posturing

Asked whether sovereignty matters for founders, Piotr didn’t mince words: “Founders need to be pragmatic. If we required everything to be in Las Vegas, we’d be dead.” The point: sovereignty is great on paper, but speed, flexibility, and cost-efficiency are what actually move companies forward.

The Black Box Problem

One of the most interesting takeaways came from Akim Lumi of Oracle: just running open-source models on local infrastructure doesn’t mean you’re sovereign. If you didn’t train it, don’t understand its data sources, and can’t audit its outputs—you’re trusting someone else’s logic. That’s not sovereignty. That’s dependency.

Europe’s Dilemma

The panel didn’t sugarcoat Europe’s position: “Europe already lost the race,” Piotr said. Harsh, but echoed by others. Sovereignty takes scale, capital, and coordination—and the U.S. and China are decades ahead. The Middle East, with its energy and investment muscle, may be the next contender.

The Bottom Line

Sovereign AI isn’t just a tech stack. It’s a geopolitical posture. It’s control over infrastructure, models, data, and—most importantly—people. For startups and governments alike, the question isn’t “should we care about sovereignty?” It’s “how do we avoid becoming someone else’s inference engine?”

Quote to Remember:

“Being beholden to a single supplier is probably not a winning business.”
– Piotr Tomasik, TensorWave

Watch the Full Talk:

🎥 Sovereign AI: The New Firewall in a Borderless Tech World

About TensorWave

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