Signs of life in Europe’s sovereign cloud sector

• Sovereign digital infrastructure developments are set to be in the spotlight in 2026
• Europe lacks the firepower of North America and Asia
• But there are signs of life in Europe’s datacentre and cloud services sectors from the likes of OVHcloud and Global Technical Realty
• New report identifies growing demand in Europe for sovereign cloud services

We heard it countless times in 2025 and we’ll hear it again this year – Europe’s digital infrastructure isn’t fit to support the sovereign services that, it’s believed, are in demand from the region’s enterprises and governments. But there are a few signs that growth and investments may help Europe’s cause during 2026. 

Roubaix, France-based OVHcloud, one of the region’s few home-grown cloud service providers of any substance, has just reported its sales for its fiscal first quarter that ended 30 November 2025, with like-for-like total revenues increasing by 6% year on year to €275.3m, and that growth mainly being driven by public cloud services uptake.  

Now, those aren’t the kind of numbers the hyperscalers would even get out of bed for, but there are signs of growing traction as well as steady sales growth. 

Octave Klaba, chairman and CEO at OVHcloud, noted: “During this quarter, we signed new contracts with clients with high security requirements such as LCH,” a Paris-based global clearing house, “as well as several OPCP [on-prem cloud platform] contracts. To meet sovereignty demands in Europe, we are also pursuing the expansion of our cloud 3-AZ regions in Europe: Following Paris and Milan, Berlin will open in early 2027. In parallel, our partnership with [AI infrastructure firm] SambaNova aims to improve the performance of AI inference,” noted the CEO, who added that the company expects organic sales growth of 5% to 7% this financial year and that the company is now targeting annual turnover of €2bn.  

No one should get too excited about Europe’s sovereign cloud clout just yet, though, as we noted last year just how dominant the US hyperscalers are in the region – see Europe’s cloud players are minnows on their home turf.

OVHcloud also announced the acquisition of French data encryption specialist Seald for an undisclosed sum. 

The news comes as tech research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) published a new report, which finds that European enterprises are “expanding their use of sovereign clouds from niche deployments focused only on compliance toward foundational infrastructure to support workloads, services and AI platforms under EU jurisdiction. This shift is reshaping the provider landscape, increasing the momentum of both regional players and localised hyperscale offerings from global players,” noted the ISG team in this announcement. 

Matthias Paletta, a director at ISG, stated: “European enterprises are reclassifying sovereign cloud from a compliance safeguard to core infrastructure. Regulatory enforcement, security concerns and AI adoption are leading organisations to pursue resilient, transparent and locally governed cloud platforms for critical workloads.”

Meenakshi Srivastava, lead analyst at ISG Provider Lens Research, added: “European enterprises are embedding sovereign cloud deeper into their IT strategies. Regulations and risk management drive most adoption now, but in the coming years, more companies will expect services to include features such as open-source interoperability and sustainability compliance.”

New investment in European datacentres

Meanwhile, European datacentre operator Global Technical Realty (GTR) has snagged almost €2bn in new funding, with €1.5bn from existing investor private equity giant KKR and another €400m from new investor Oak Hill Capital. 

Since its launch in 2020, GTR has developed datacentre facilities in London (two sites), Barcelona, Zurich and Tel Aviv, “delivering innovative datacentres designed to meet the requirements of hyperscale, cloud and AI-driven workloads, supported by a team drawn from some of the industry’s most experienced participants,” the company noted. 

Franek Sodzawiczny, CEO and founder of GTR, stated: “This investment marks a major inflection point for GTR. Demand from hyperscale and AI-driven customers across Europe continues to accelerate, and this capital enables us to scale our team, deepen our operating capabilities, and move faster into new markets. KKR has been an exceptional strategic partner since our inception, and their renewed commitment positions us to execute against a substantial development pipeline. We are also delighted to welcome Oak Hill, whose deep experience in digital infrastructure and telecommunications will be invaluable as we scale the platform for its next phase of growth.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV