European spending on sovereign cloud to triple
European spending on sovereign cloud infrastructure services is projected to more than triple between 2025 and 2027, driven by rising geopolitical tension and concerns over dependence on U.S. hyperscalers. Gartner forecasts global sovereign cloud spending to reach approximately €74 billion in 2026, a 35.6% increase year on year. Europe is expected to be among the fastest‑growing regions, with spending growth of 83%, rising from €6.9 billion in 2025, far above the current baseline in Mature Asia/Pacific of about €0.85 billion.
European demand is shaped by legal and political risk, particularly the U.S. CLOUD Act, which allows U.S. authorities to require access to data held by U.S. companies regardless of storage location. These concerns intensified following renewed transatlantic trade tensions and high‑profile sanctions cases, including the temporary restriction of Microsoft services for the International Criminal Court. The incident reinforced fears that geopolitical decisions could disrupt access to essential digital services, prompting EU institutions to explore open‑source and nationally controlled alternatives.
Strategic autonomy has therefore become a core investment driver. European groups such as Schwarz Gruppe have invested heavily—around €11 billion—in regional cloud providers like STACKIT, while OVHcloud and others are expanding capacity. Despite these efforts, European providers remain significantly smaller than U.S. hyperscalers, leading many organizations to adopt a gradual approach by placing new workloads in sovereign or regional clouds rather than migrating existing systems.
U.S. providers have responded with “sovereign cloud” offerings operated within the EU, including dedicated subsidiaries and in‑country data processing. However, many European customers and analysts remain unconvinced that these structures fully address legal exposure to U.S. parent companies. As a result, sovereign cloud decisions in Europe are increasingly driven by legal certainty and risk management, not only cost or technical performance.
