Since the Internet came into wide use in the 1990s, the USA has led the global data-driven economy. It is home to the top ten Internet brands and to seven out of the 10 Internet companies with the largest market value worldwide. These companies include Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google and Intel and they provide the hardware, software and platforms for digital trade. Four US companies provide more than one half of the worldwide cloud-computing capacity.
Although the inventor of the World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee is Swiss and British, European governments and firms did not play a major role in the internet’s development. Today, there are no European firms among the top 15 digital firms by market value or any household names among Europe’s top 20 digital firms. Some EU members (Sweden and Germany) have strong AI, robotics, apps, and software firms. However, while Europe has many strong global competitors in the software and telecommunications sector, it is still just beginning to build new data-based firms. While the EU is the biggest exporter of digital services, US firms control some 54% of the EU’s digital market, compared with 46%for European firms. Although EU Member States consist of mature industrialized economies, their digital markets have significant room to grow.
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