Description
The EU has explicitly linked the concept of data sovereignty to its ambitions as an international regulatory agenda-setter in its position as self-described Geopolitical Union. In particular, the EU has expressed repeatedly its desire to ensure its strategic autonomy, reducing its dependence on third countries and their key industries. The purpose of this paper is to explore the data governance ambitions, highlighting the ‘autonomy-interdependence’ governance gap, in which the EU’s desire to ensure autonomy clashes with the inherently interdependent nature of data flows between states, and its dependence on non-EU data servers. Using the case study of semiconductor supply chains, this paper analyses the data dimension of this EU-designated critical technology, and the flows of information relating to the research, design, and fabrication of these chips. Considering the EU’s attempts to control data under its Data and Data Governance Acts, it argues that the EU will have considerable difficulty in operationalising these data sovereignty ambitions, particularly as they relate to ensuring that all data stays within the EU, or within its sphere of regulatory influence.
