Why the US–Europe Gap Is Widening — and What Switzerland Can (Still) Do
Panel at Silicon Valley meets Switzerland (SVMS-8), May 7, Zurich
At almost every tech conference in Europe, you hear the same reassuring message:
“Europe is doing fine in AI. The gap isn’t that big.”
That story is comforting — and dangerously wrong.
At Silicon Valley meets Switzerland (SVMS-8) on May 7, we’ll host a deliberately uncomfortable panel:
“How to Compete Without Billions in AI?”
Because the gap between the US and Europe is not only real — it is widening.
The Numbers Nobody Can Spin Away
According to J.P. Morgan and PitchBook, the 2025 VC numbers look like this:
🇺🇸 United States
- $339.6B in total VC deal value
- 65.4% invested into AI
- $298B in exit value
- $66.1B raised by VC funds (a decade low — yet still enormous)
🇪🇺 Europe
- €23.3B invested in AI (35.5% of total deal value)
- Total VC investment barely above 2024
- €12.0B in fundraising — lowest level in a decade
- €67.8B in exit value
Same buzzwords everywhere:
AI-first strategies, liquidity constraints, secondaries, cautious LPs.
But outcomes couldn’t be more different.
Why the Divergence Keeps Growing
Venture capital is one of the riskiest asset classes.
In uncertain markets, LPs don’t rebalance evenly — they concentrate.
They go where:
- Liquidity exists
- Exits are frequent
- Winners are proven
- Capital can scale fast
Right now, that overwhelmingly favors the United States.
Not because Europe lacks talent — but because Europe lacks scale, exits, and conviction.
And Switzerland? Strong Per Capita — Weak in Outcomes
Switzerland often points to per-capita investment — and rightly so.
On paper, Switzerland looks solid.
But the uncomfortable truth:
- Very few global-scale AI champions
- Very few headline exits
- Almost no category-defining platforms
We fund well early, but struggle to go big. And in AI, going big is not optional.
The China Factor Everyone Underestimates
Then there’s 🇨🇳 China:
- $114B in VC deal value
- 25–30% into AI (especially robotics & autonomous driving)
- 9,000+ deals (+28% YoY, many small tickets)
- $430B raised by new funds (≈70% government-guided)
- 294 IPOs, 61% listed overseas
China is building volume, infrastructure, and optionality at a speed that still shocks Western observers.
As Ray Dalio has been warning for years: this is the market most people misunderstand — and underestimate.
So the Real Question Is This 👇
Europe — and Switzerland in particular — will not outspend the US in AI.
That race is already lost.
The real strategic question is:
How do you compete without billions?
That’s exactly what our panel at SVMS-8 is about:
- Where focus beats funding
- Where industrial AI beats foundation-model hype
- Where partnerships beat brute force
- And where Europe still has a real shot — if it stops copying Silicon Valley and starts playing to its own strengths
Why This Panel Matters
This is not another “AI is coming” discussion.
It’s about hard trade-offs, uncomfortable truths, and realistic paths forward.
If you care about:
- European tech competitiveness
- Swiss enterprises staying relevant
- AI beyond slide decks and pilot projects
…this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.
👉 Full agenda & registration:
https://www.hitechconnect.org/svms-8
Because waiting has never been the safe option — it’s just the quiet one.
.jpg)
.jpg)
