- AWS launches sovereign ‘European cloud’ offering
- This service will be logically and physically independent
- It will be run exclusively by EU citizens and will comply with EU regulations.
Amazon Web Service (AWS) has announced the launch of AWS European Sovereign Cloud, an independent cloud, both logically and physically separated and located exclusively within the EU.
To execute this, Amazon has created a new parent company with three local subsidiaries, all run by EU citizens, that comply with European laws and focus on providing full compliance and transparency within cloud services.
This is a big step for AWS users in Europe, as the gap between EU regulations and US laws has become a chasm, especially given the strict requirements of GDPR and NIST, as well as the current US administration’s commitment to technology deregulation and attitude towards AI.
No critical dependencies
Cloud sovereignty has become increasingly important for European businesses as US critical infrastructure has dominated the landscape, but regulations have often lagged far behind, raising concerns around compliance and security.
We predicted that ‘geopatriation’ would be a trend in 2026 for exactly those reasons, and although there are regional cloud providers for the EU, the market dominance of companies such as AWS, Microsoft and Google (which together account for more than 60% of the global cloud computing market) makes them the choice for continuity and convenience.
This new AWS cloud promises complete European operational autonomy. This means that it is operated exclusively by EU residents and “has no critical infrastructure dependencies outside the EU,” as well as being designed to “continue operations indefinitely, even in the event of a disruption of communications with the rest of the world.”
“The AWS European Sovereign Cloud gives customers full control over where their data is stored.” Amazon confirmed this in a statement.
“The AWS European Sovereign Cloud allows customers to keep all the metadata they create (such as roles, permissions, resource tags, and settings) entirely in the EU, including sovereign identity and access management (IAM), billing, and usage metering systems.”
The backlash by European companies against US Big Tech is likely to continue as attitudes towards regulation and compliance appear to drift further apart, but we are likely to see more local cloud services created for Europeans as providers look to protect their market share in the future.
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