The spectre of far-reaching export restrictions from China and the United States looms over Europe’s AI infrastructure plans. Caught in a deepening two-level dependency in the AI chip sector, the continent faces growing strategic vulnerabilities that the escalating US–China chip war is likely to intensify — with no immediate way out. The AI revolution may appear ethereal and software-driven, epitomized by Large Language Models (LLMs). Yet its foundations are profoundly material, resting on