Amazon launches its ‘sovereign’ cloud in Europe and plots expansion
People walk past the logo of Amazon Web Services (AWS) at the exhibitor booth at the India Mobile Congress 2025 at Yashobhoomi, a convention and exhibition center in New Delhi, India, on October 8, 2025.
Anushree Fadnaviler | Reuters
Amazon launched its “sovereign cloud” offering in Europe on Thursday in a move designed to keep it among the region’s leading players even as tougher regulations are imposed on tech giants.
The term sovereign cloud generally relates to cloud computing services where data is stored, processed, and not moved outside a specific jurisdiction.
The European Union (EU) has pressured companies operating in the bloc to comply with various data and privacy regulations, as concerns grow over the dominance of US tech giants in the cloud space and potential access to European citizens’ data.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) European Sovereign Cloud, headquartered in Brandenburg, Germany and first announced in 2023, is a new concept. Amazon said in a press release on Thursday that the cloud is “physically and logically separate” from other AWS regions. To do this, Amazon created a new parent company for the sovereign cloud in the European Union (EU) that will be locally controlled and run by EU citizens.
Stéphane Israël will lead AWS Europe Sovereign Cloud. Stefan Hoechbauer, vice president of global sales for AWS’ Germany and Europe Center, has been appointed general manager. AWS also announced five new members of its advisory board for sovereign cloud; three of them were Amazon employees.
AWS said the sovereign cloud “does not have a critical dependency on non-EU infrastructure” and can continue to operate in the event of a communications outage with the rest of the world. “Under extraordinary circumstances, authorized AWS employees of AWS European Sovereign Cloud who reside in the EU will have independent access to a copy of the source code required to maintain AWS European Sovereign Cloud services,” the company said.
Over the last few years, European politicians and regulators have become concerned about the dominance of US tech firms over critical technology infrastructure. Despite the EU putting pressure on regional companies to expand their businesses, AWS, Microsoft and Google still account for 70% of the cloud computing market in the region, according to Synergy Research Group.
While AWS touts its standalone cloud, European regulators are currently investigating cloud computing services from Amazon and Microsoft under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to curtail the power of Big Tech.
Amazon said in 2024 that it would invest 7.8 billion euros ($9.1 billion) in its AWS European Sovereign Cloud in Germany by 2040. Amazon on Thursday said it would expand its AWS European Sovereign Cloud to Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal.
