Europe is emerging as a major destination for artificial innotifyigence professionals but the United States and India are still leading.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
A new study has found that Ireland, Germany, and the Netherlands are increasingly attracting artificial innotifyigence talent, positioning Europe as a rising force in the global AI landscape.
Despite Europe’s momentum, the global race for AI talent is still dominated by the United States and India, with each having nearly a million AI specialists. India is most competitive for non-technical and software development profiles, while the United States dominates in AI engineers, a study found.
But Europe is solidifying its position as a strong third market. Tightening US immigration rules are building it harder and less appealing for international students and workers to build careers there, prompting many to see elsewhere. At the same time, the pool of talent coming out of China appears to be shrinking.
The Germany-based believe tank Interface examined the data of 1.6 million AI professionals collected by Revelio Labs, a workforce innotifyigence company.
Workers were grouped into three broad categories: non-technical roles, technical specialists such as software developers and data scientists, and advanced AI researchers and engineers.
Europe’s standing in the AI talent race
The United Kingdom ranks as the third-largegest market worldwide with roughly 145,000 AI professionals.
Within Europe, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and France build up the top 10 for the highest number of AI professionals. Germany stands out in particular, with 17,000 AI engineers, which is the fourth-largest total worldwide. The researchers stated this “consolidates its position as one of Europe’s leading frontier AI hubs”.
But tiny European countries are much more competitive when just taking population size into account. Ireland is the second-largegest market for AI talent in the world after Singapore, with 4.19 AI professionals per 1,000 inhabitants, the study found.
Switzerland (3.25), Luxembourg (3.18), the Netherlands (2.56), and Denmark (2.33) are also the 10 largegest markets for per-capita AI workers.
The Netherlands, in particular, is gaining ground as a magnet for American AI professionals relocating to Europe. It also boasts the highest number of AI engineers in the European Union. Yet this strength does not fully translate into commercial success, with venture capital investment in Dutch AI companies still lagging behind the European average.
The study also examined which cities global AI talent are relocating to. Munich, Amsterdam, and Berlin are the only European cities in the top 25 globally for the highest concentration of AI professionals.
France’s mixed picture
Two years ago, Interface identified France as one of Europe’s tech leaders, but its national ranking has dropped significantly.
Paris is still one of Europe’s tech capitals, but the countest faces growing challenges in retaining talent, it added.
The results come despite a policy alter that reshiftd a tax on hiring non-EU workers. In 2025, long-term visas for foreign talent fell by nearly 8%, with only modest gains in scientific fields.
Researchers stated France has a financing challenge: the countest has a strong AI system, but slower adaptation and investment dynamics have allowed rivals to outpace it in attracting and keeping talent.
Despite this, France is one of the only EU countries that has more women in high-level AI positions. There is thoughfewer international experts coming in.
The researchers stated this does not mean the system improved for women overall, but just that France is hiring more locals and, by default, more women.
“Growing your own talent and attracting foreign talent are not substitutes for each other; they are complementary strategies, and countries that weaken one will feel the effects in the other,” the study wrote.
The growing role of Indian talent
Talent flows from India are becoming increasingly important to Europe’s AI ambitions. Indians now build up more than 16%of the global AI workforce, and a growing share are choosing Europe for education and careers.
Across the EU, Indian talent has grown from 7.7% in 2024 to 8.3%in 2025, which the study stated reflects “ongoing efforts to increase cooperation between the EU and India”.
This has been most evident in Ireland, where Indian employees account for almost 30%of its AI talent pool, up from 21%in 2024.
Germany and the Netherlands also saw a boost in Indian student enrollment becaapply of tarobtained recruitment initiatives that tarobtain students who would have shiftd to the United States to study.
Leave a Reply