They use those because the decision to use them was made years ago. Things have changed since then

I want to believe... but I also need proofs of that "trend", any reference I could read on please?

It's definitely a topic of conversation in Reddit, etc... However I agree that the push to reduce US dependence by EU companies (and countries) is hampered by the fact that US stuff is already embedded (Microsoft but also Google, etc...) and that many of these companies are transnational anyway (very few European companies are solely inside the EU) and finally and most importantly just about every company will choose the option that does the job best for the right price (sovereignty is a distant second for most decision makers).

While few companies announce this publicly, I know from personal experience with corporate clients that many companies are preparing for Trump to use Big Tech as a bargaining chip.

And they should. Because the US is not behaving rationally at all.

https://nltimes.nl/2026/02/10/rabobank-ing-abn-amro-seek-eur...

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/13/gartner_cio_cloud_sov...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/europe-zoom-...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-...

https://sherwood.news/tech/europe-wants-to-break-up-with-us-...

>While few companies announce this publicly, I know from personal experience with corporate clients

Well I have even more personal experience that contradicts yours, and this isn't true at all. Everyone uses Claude / Gemini / OpenAI. Mistral isn't even on the table.

Come on, compared to Google Workspace / Microsoft's whatever-it's-called-these-days, the cost of switching from one LLM provider to another is pretty much zero.

Having an option at the back of your mind is all it takes right now, until push comes to shove of course.

Just a sample: https://mistral.ai/customers

And you can Google for "We use Mistral" to find thousands of usecases by startups and other companies.

Multiple Government organisations ditching Microsoft? Including entire German states?

My University also migrated to OpenExchange

That's the public sector. I can also give examples of schools in Denmark, cities in France, education system in France, cities in Spain too, but they said "big EU companies".

No they haven't. Every company just buys ChatGPT Enterprise.

Not at all. We continue taking that decision today.

No they haven't.

Proof: Most big EU companies use Claude or Gemini or OpenAI, not Mistral. That choice was made recently.

Things have changed in the loud echo chambers of the internet, maybe (but not really, since people were saying that EU data sovereignty was happening any time now since 2016).

I consult for various companies and have definitely seen a trend. It's not quite the rupture that some expect but clearly not nothing either. Until very recently, the risk assessment of using US providers was considered very hypothetical. Today it still doesn't feel imminent, but it does feel very real.

Of course, it will be slow and painful and Europeans will need to use their own services for them to grow and mature.

My _feeling_ is that a lot of EU/European politicians has talked a lot more about the need to be independent from the US after Trump threaten Greenland. At least in the nordic countries. Not only concerning data & privacy, but defence, communications, space etc. All areas. The wheel has started to turn. You will not see it if you look around. But in 10 years time, maybe more, Europe will have stopped depending on the US. And that will hit US hard. We pay a lot of money in services to the US.

The politicians can talk, but they needed to set up an environment that would've let a European company have a decent shot at competing with the best AI models. But they didn't. Should've thought of that before being proud of setting up those strict tech regulations.

That is not how EU does things. If you want no regulation and access to capital you should go to the US.

AI will take over a lot and the biggest AI company will be in US and China. But there will be room for Europe also on the top 10 list.

But there will be an environment that is creating sovereignty from US much more the before. We have learned our lesson

Will there be room for Europe though? Doesn't look like it based on other tech markets.

> Proof: Most big EU companies use Claude or Gemini or OpenAI, not Mistral. That choice was made recently.

IS a statement with no supporting facts considered "proof"? Just the public list of Mistral customers (https://mistral.ai/customers) is proof alone that quite a few big EU companies are _not_ in fact using Open AI or Claude or Gemini at the strategic level.

Contrast with Antrhopic's Europe based customers, the majority of which are small companies (only big one I can identify from a skim is L'Oreal): https://claude.com/customers?f80ce999_sort_date=desc&f80ce99...

Or OpenAI's customers, of which the only big European ones I can spot are Scania and Philips: https://openai.com/stories/

Note: I'm talking about strategic enterprise AI deployments for the company or at least a division, not individual developers being allowed to use Claude Code etc. The moat and the money will be in the former, not latter.

I don't think big business is genuinely planning for a world where US tech becomes completely unavailable.

2 years ago I would have agreed with you, but after Greenland the vibe is very different. And it's not like the situation is improving.

Not entirely, but putting more eggs in that basket would certainly be considered lack of planning. Why increase your risk even further when everyone has seen how volatile things can get quickly?