- AWS launches a sovereign ‘European Cloud’ offering
- This service will be independent logically and physically
- It will be run exclusively by EU citizens and comply with EU regulation
Amazon Web Service (AWS) has announced the launch of AWS European Sovereign Cloud – an independent cloud, separate both logically and physically and located exclusively within the EU.
To execute this, Amazon has created a new parent company with three local subsidiaries – all led by EU citizens, compliant with European laws, and focused on delivering full compliance and transparency within cloud services.
This is a huge step for AWS users in Europe, as the difference between EU regulations and US laws has become chasmic, especially given the strict requirements of GDPR and NIST – as well as the current US administration’s commitment to tech deregulation and attitude toward AI.
No critical dependencies
Cloud sovereignty has become increasingly important to European firms, as US critical infrastructure has dominated the landscape, but regulations have often lagged far behind, creating unease regarding compliance and safety.
We predicted ‘geopatriation’ would be a trend in 2026 for exactly those reasons, and although there are existing regional cloud providers for the EU, the market dominance of firms like AWS, Microsoft, and Google (who together account for over 60% of the global cloud computing market), make them the choice for continuity and convenience.
This new AWS cloud promises complete European operational autonomy. This means it is operated exclusively by EU residents, and has ‘no critical dependencies on non-EU infrastructure’ as well as being designed to ‘continue operations indefinitely, even in the event of a communications disruption with the rest of the world.‘
‘The AWS European Sovereign Cloud provides customers with full control over where their data is stored.’ Amazon confirmed in a statement.
‘The AWS European Sovereign Cloud allows customers to keep all metadata they create (such as the roles, permissions, resource labels, and configurations) entirely in the EU, including sovereign Identity and Access Management (IAM), billing, and usage metering systems.’
The push back from European firms against big US tech is likely to continue as attitudes towards regulation and compliance seem to only grow further apart, but it’s likely that we will see more local cloud services built for Europeans as providers look to protect their market share going forward.
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