German companies face rising dependency on foreign digital imports

A survey by the digital association Bitkom reveals that German companies could only survive for an average of 16 months if digital imports from abroad were suddenly unavailable. While this represents a slight improvement from 14 months in 2025, the level of dependency remains high.

Approximately 96 percent of German companies import digital technologies and services from abroad. Among these, 94 percent consider Germany to be strongly or rather dependent on foreign digital services. Furthermore, 73 percent of respondents expressed concern regarding dependency on US technologies, a significant increase from 38 percent in 2024.

Two-thirds of businesses expect this dependency to increase over the next five years. Bitkom emphasizes the need for increased investment in key digital technologies and calls on both the state and individual companies to build digital resilience and sovereignty to avoid paralysis during crises.