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AI and competitiveness: the race for technological breakthroughs
In 2025, the world will be trembling under the impact of technological advances. Artificial intelligence (AI), advanced semiconductors, digital infrastructures: these upheavals are redrawing the rules of competitiveness at an astonishing speed.
For companies and governments, the challenge is clear: adopt these innovations at a rapid pace or risk falling behind in a global economy where technology now sets the pace.
AI, once a futuristic promise, is today a transformative force that permeates all sectors - industry, healthcare, financial services, education. How can we stay in the race in the face of these disruptions?
The figures are dizzying and show how AI is driving an unprecedented revolution. The global AI market, which was worth €7 billion in 2020, is expected to explode to $2 trillion by 2030, according to PwC. This meteoric growth can be explained by widespread adoption. Take Amazon: in January 2025, the giant released a fleet of AI-powered autonomous drones in 12 major American cities, shortening delivery times by 40%. In the automotive sector, Tesla is causing a sensation with its $25,000 model, launched in early 2025, packed with intelligent systems that optimize energy and safety, with an ambitious target: 5 million units per year by 2027.
Semiconductors are the nerve center of this technological war. The crisis of 2021-2023 exposed their strategic role, triggering a rush towards autonomy. Europe has drawn on its European Chips Act with 43 billion euros to boost its production, while in France, STMicroelectronics opened a factory in Crolles in 2024 dedicated to FD-SOI, a key technology for 5G and connected objects. These massive investments demonstrate Europe's desire to break its dependence on Asian suppliers.
For companies, missing the AI train means flirting with obsolescence. McKinsey confirms this: those that integrated AI in 2024 boosted their productivity by an average of 20%. Conversely, in Europe, 30% of SMEs that have remained on the sidelines of digital technology have been stagnating since 2022, according to Eurostat. The challenge is twofold: cutting costs while innovating for ever more demanding customers. In healthcare, analyzing patient data using AI can improve diagnoses and reduce the cost of treatment.
Governments, for their part, are staking their technological sovereignty. US restrictions on foreign companies have sounded the alarm: depending on foreign countries for chips or the cloud is playing with fire. The authorities are launching numerous projects, trying out different approaches and methods to make up the glaring gap between them and the United States and China.
Staying ahead of the pack requires innovation and investment.
Samsung has put $18 billion on the table in 2024 for its 2-nanometer chips, a bet on the future, with more than $6 billion in aid from the Biden administration to produce these chips on US soil.
But without talent, there can be no victory: in the United States, giants of the American platforms are inflating the salaries of their employees in 2025 to attract AI engineers, a rare commodity in a booming market.
Alliances and collaboration are a major asset. In France, 42 projects supported by PIIECs (Major Projects of Common European Interest) created 5,700 jobs in microelectronics last year, proof that pooling forces pays off.
In 2025, a wait-and-see approach is no longer an option. Chinese and American giants are prospering because they anticipate and invest heavily. Governments are following suit: the €54 billion of France 2030 or the 140 billion promised by the United States to the NSF Tech Directorate by 2027 show a willingness to take the lead.
Allianz Trade predicts 3% growth for digitized economies in 2025-2026, compared to 1.5% for those lagging further behind.
Competitiveness is now played out in laboratories, factories and meeting rooms—where the ideas that transform disruptions into springboards are born.
In this world where technology holds the reins, the winners will not be those who submit, but those who lead the revolution and are proactive. For companies and governments, it is time to be bold: to invest, collaborate and anticipate.
Because in this race, there is no silver medal: the winner takes it all.