EU Impact Assessment for Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA)

The European Commission has published an Impact Assessment Report accompanying its Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA).

• Main announcement: The Commission proposes CADA to strengthen Europe’s cloud and AI ecosystem by (a) tripling EU data center (DC) capacity by 2030 and setting a path to meet needs by 2035; (b) targeting 30% market share for European cloud and AI providers by 2035; (c) imposing a permitting target of <18 months for DC permits across the EU; and (d) introducing a four-tier sovereignty framework for cloud/AI services (Levels 1–4), plus EU R&D and deployment funding and measures on public procurement to promote sovereign services.
• Context and concrete measures: The assessment documents a 2025 EU DC supply/demand gap (central estimate ~19 GW by 2036), highlights geographic concentration (FLAPD hubs ~65% of market), energy and grid constraints (Ireland DCs = 22% of electricity demand in 2025; EU DC electricity ~99 TWh in 2025 projected higher), cites past investments (AWS/Microsoft/Google ~EUR 12 bn in EU infrastructure in 2020) and commercial pressures (examples: CIA USD 600 m contract to AWS in 2013). The Impact Assessment accompanies the Commission proposal and sets out policy packages (preferred: national fast-track facilitators, designated fast-track areas, EU R&D/deployment support, mandatory sovereignty risk assessments for public procurement, joint procurement and SME support).