Europe warned about dangerous dependence on Starlink and American AI - ForkLog: cryptocurrencies, AI, singularity, future

# Europe Warned About Dangerous Dependence on Starlink and American AI

Europe should not rely on US AI infrastructure and systems like Starlink due to "dangerous" excessive dependence. This statement was made by Bouygues CEO Olivier Roussa in an interview with CNBC.

"There are two areas of the future that Europe needs to recognize the importance of. These are artificial intelligence and satellite communications," he emphasized.

Bouygues is one of the largest French engineering conglomerates. It operates in the construction sector, transportation, and telecommunications. The company aims to consolidate the communications market in France.

"I'm not sure we necessarily need Starlink or something similar. Europe needs something to gain some sovereignty," Roussa added.

According to him, a single non-governmental player could disconnect internet access across the entire continent alone.

Starlink — Leader

SpaceX's division — Starlink — dominates the global satellite internet market. The company manages a group of more than 10,000 spacecraft in low Earth orbit — a region of space within 2,000 km of Earth's surface.

Elon Musk's company plans to go public on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, conducting the largest IPO in history. It has filed a prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The document states that the company's communications division, mainly consisting of Starlink, generated $11.39 billion in revenue in 2025 — 61% of total sales. In the first quarter of 2026, this figure increased to 69%.

Starlink is the only profit source for the space company — the division brought in $4.42 billion for the year. Meanwhile, the rocket launch division, including contracts with NASA and the Department of Defense, recorded a loss of $657 million.

From a financial perspective, the AI division is doing even worse — -$6.35 billion.

In the first quarter, Starlink's user base more than doubled compared to last year, reaching 10.3 million people.

SpaceX estimates its potential market at $28.5 trillion. The figure includes:

• broadband access — $870 billion;
• mobile division — $740 billion;
• digital advertising — $600 billion;
• AI infrastructure — $2.4 trillion;
• corporate applications market — $22.7 trillion.

"We believe we are still in the early stages of transforming enterprises with artificial intelligence, and AI-based enterprise applications are ready to reshape the digital economy," states the SpaceX document.

Competition Is Intensifying

In 2026, Starlink for the first time entered the ranking of the 500 leading brands according to Brand Finance. Meanwhile, competitors are closing in:

• OneWeb, operated by French Eutelsat, has a constellation of over 600 satellites;
• Amazon launched more than 300 orbital satellites in the past year and is approaching the release of Leo service, which will eventually include a constellation of about 7,700 space objects;
• Blue Origin by Jeff Bezos plans to deploy around 5,400 satellites starting in Q4 2027;
• Chinese Guowang, which currently has about 163 satellites, aims to create a mega-constellation.

Data Centers in Space

In February, SpaceX acquired Elon Musk's AI startup xAI, creating the most expensive private company in the world. The entrepreneur said the idea behind the merger is to establish data centers beyond Earth.

At that time, the combined company's valuation was estimated at $1.25 trillion. Now, the valuation is around $1.75 trillion, with some media citing figures up to $2 trillion.

To create data centers in space, SpaceX has requested permission from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to launch 1 million satellites.

The project involves creating a network of data centers in low Earth orbit connected by laser links. The document uses bold phrases like "the first step toward a second-level civilization on the Kardashev scale."

Colonizing Mars and the Moon

Musk plans to colonize Mars, but this plan has been postponed in favor of building a city on the Moon. The CEO of SpaceX said it will take less than 10 years to establish.

The entrepreneur noted that travel to Mars is only possible when the planets align. This event occurs every 26 months, and the flight takes about six months.

People can fly to the Moon every 10 days, with the trip lasting two days. Therefore, establishing a city on Earth's satellite can be done much faster.

Recall that in February, it was announced that SpaceX participated in a secret new Pentagon competition to create autonomous drone swarms with voice control.