Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Chairman Joe Tsai said open-source artificial intelligence offers Europe its best route to technological independence from the US and China. He urged the region to build its own computing infrastructure at the Wave by Vento conference in Turin, Italy, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026.
What Tsai said
Tsai’s argument centred on countries’ reliance on one another. “No country would want to entirely trust another country's technology: if there's a change in government, a change in circumstances, they can just shut off the technology from you,” he said at the conference.
He presented open-source AI as a way for Europe to pursue independence from technology developed in the US and China. The account of his remarks doesn’t identify a particular open-source model or name any US or Chinese technology provider.
Tsai also urged Europe to build computing infrastructure of its own. He said the infrastructure would train and run AI models. The account gives no proposed budget, timetable, location, or construction plan for it.
Infrastructure and independence
The call for European computing capacity formed part of Tsai’s argument about dependence on technology from other countries. He said a change in government or circumstances could leave a country vulnerable to another government shutting off access to its technology. He didn’t describe a specific instance of technology access being shut off.
The account doesn’t say which European governments, companies, or institutions Tsai expects to build or operate the infrastructure. It also gives no estimate of the computing capacity Europe would need, or details about how open-source models would be trained or run there.
The conference took place in Turin. Tsai spoke at the Wave by Vento conference on Oct. 7, 2026. The account reports his call for open-source AI and European computing infrastructure, but offers no response from European officials or other conference participants.
No border policy in the remarks
Tsai’s reported comments concerned AI, computing infrastructure, and technological independence. They included no stated position on migration, asylum, borders, or migrant workers. The account doesn’t mention Frontex, border enforcement, asylum policy, detention, or the European Union’s migration rules.
It also offers no information about the labour involved in building or operating computing infrastructure, or the location and ownership of the facilities Tsai proposed. No migrant organisations, workers, or advocates comment in the account.
The report gives no further detail on Tsai’s proposal beyond his support for open-source artificial intelligence and his call for Europe to build computing infrastructure to train and run models. He warned that another country could shut off access to technology after a change in government or circumstances. The account names no specific project or policy commitment.