SAP CEO Christian Klein, pictured May 16, 2024, said he would support a $500 billion Stargate Europe.
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US President Donald Trump’s recently announced Stargate project – a $500 billion investment in US AI infrastructure – should be a “wake-up call” for Europe, according to the CEO of one of the largest technology companies in the region.
Asked Thursday about the project, backed by OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle and led by the Trump administration, SAP CEO Christian Klein said it should serve as an example for Europe.
“It’s the right decision, and it’s also about making government more productive,” he said. “Look at Europe, we always complain about regulations about too many AI laws… It’s a great model for Europe.”
Klein added that he would “absolutely support” a Stargate project for Europe.
“We do business with all public sectors around the world, of course we would be happy with that in Europe,” he told CNBC’s Karen Tso and Steve Sedgwick. “From my point of view, Europe needs it the most.”
Klein, who has served as chief executive of German software developer SAP since 2019, argued that the main obstacle to starting a Stargate-style project in Europe is not a question of access to capital in the region which is more restricted than in the United States. States.
“It’s not even the lack of financing. In Europe, the question is who owns the company,” he argued. “Who is really giving the order to say that we are digitalizing Europe, that we are digitalizing our agencies, and that we are not doing it in silos, we are doing it as a union.”
He said countries are focusing on domestic development of AI rather than looking at how markets could collaborate to develop the technology.
“Think about startups: we’re a big multinational tech company, we can do this. But small startups need a market to grow and that’s by far not a union.”
“I hope that … everything that happened in the United States is certainly a wake-up call. We need to have proof of that, but I hope that now Europe will come together and will form a union in the field of digitalization, this is extremely important,” Klein added.
“When you look at our industries, we have manufacturing, automotive, chemicals – we need to apply AI to do [them] more competitive. We need more audacity, more will, more courage. »
He said the responsibility lies with both politicians and businesses, and lawmakers must create the appropriate frameworks for businesses to drive AI transformation and implement the technology.
