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EU: German IT giant rejects call for European rival to US tech firms

By  |  December 3, 2013

Amid allegations of spying by various US-based technology firms, some EU authorities have called for domestic IT groups to ban together and rival US giants.

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    The idea, reports say, would be to create the equivalent of an ‘IT Airbus;’ Airbus was created through EU aviation groups joining together in 2001 to rival the US mega-airliner Boeing.

    Germany’s largest IT firm SAP, however, has rejected such an idea, saying the move would threaten competition and innovation.

    ”A merger between some European IT companies with the aim of drawing a line between them and the rest of the global market does not make any sense,” SAP co-chief executive Jim Hagemann said Wednesday.

    The problem, he said, is that IT is a global industry that cannot be concentrated in one geographical area to combat another.

    But some politicians who favor the idea say IT firms including Merkel would allow the EU to be less dependent on US dominating tech groups including Google and Microsoft.

    Full Content: Reuters

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