• AWS European Sovereign Cloud is now available in Germany, with plans for expansion to Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal
• The emphasis is placed on a sovereign cloud that is managed by Europeans, for Europeans
• Meanwhile, IBM has launched software to help organisations tackle AI sovereignty requirements

Sovereignty was certainly a well-used term in Europe’s tech/cloud/AI/digital services sector last year, and activity continued to ramp up in the final weeks of 2025 with a focus on services and infrastructure that are all “made in Europe”. 

European telcos, AI tech firms and cloud providers are all getting in on the act, and recent developments suggest there are signs of life in Europe’s datacentre and cloud services sectors amid growing demand for sovereign cloud services.

At the same time, they continue to face huge competition from the US hyperscaler trio of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. And as you would expect, US-based cloud and data management companies also have their own strategies to meet Europe’s increasingly stringent sovereign needs, as already illustrated by Oracle last year.

This week, AWS announced the general availability of AWS European Sovereign Cloud, described as a “new, independent cloud for Europe entirely located within the EU, and physically and logically separate from other AWS Regions”. 

The cloud behemoth first announced in 2024 that it intended to invest €7.8bn in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in Germany until 2040. It had aimed to launch its first sovereign AWS Region in the state of Brandenburg in Germany by the end of 2025. 

Now that the Germany-based sovereign cloud is up and running, AWS plans to extend its sovereign cloud play across the European Union (EU), initially with “new sovereign AWS Local Zones located in Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal”. 

AWS currently operates six AWS Regions in the EU (France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Sweden) as well as one each in the UK and Switzerland. It describes these regions as “sovereign-by-design”, but notes that AWS European Sovereign Cloud is “designed to give customers additional choice to meet the EU’s stringent sovereignty requirements without compromising on the robust capabilities of AWS”. 

Stefan Hoechbauer, vice president of AWS Global Sales for Germany and central Europe, has been appointed as managing director of AWS European Sovereign Cloud. He will work closely with Stéphane Israël, who will lead the AWS European Sovereign Cloud and be responsible for management and operations. 

“Customers want the best of both worlds – they want to be able to use AWS’s full portfolio of cloud and AI services while ensuring they can meet their stringent sovereignty requirements,” asserted Israël. “By building a cloud that is European in its infrastructure, operations and governance, we’re empowering organisations to innovate with confidence while maintaining complete control over their digital assets.”

AWS has been keen to emphasise its sovereign European credentials, including the promise that AWS European Sovereign Cloud will ultimately be operated exclusively by EU citizens. “Only AWS employees, residing in the EU, will control day-to-day operations, including access to datacentres, technical support and customer service for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud,” it said.

The provider also cites support for the launch from policymakers and regulators throughout Europe, and said regional launch partners include Accenture, Adesso, Adobe, Arvato Systems, Atos, Capgemini, Dedalus, Deloitte, Genysys, Kyndryl, Mistral AI, MSG Group, Nvidia, SAP and SoftwareOne.

IBM provides a helping hand for sovereign AI

Meanwhile, another US tech giant, IBM, has thrown its hat into the sovereign ring with the launch of IBM Sovereign Core software, which is designed to enable enterprises, governments and service providers to “build, deploy and manage AI-ready sovereign environments”.

As explained by Priya Srinivasan, general manager of IBM software products, the requirement to meet regulatory requirements and control how sensitive data and AI workloads are accessed and operated is “creating an urgent need for sovereign solutions that deliver AI-ready environments”.

IBM is collaborating with IT service providers, starting with an initial rollout in Europe with Cegeka in Belgium and the Netherlands, and Computacenter in Germany. IBM Sovereign Core will be available in tech preview in February, with full general availability planned for mid-2026.

- Anne Morris, Contributing Editor, TelecomTV