The debate on technological sovereignty in Europe adds a new chapter after knowing that OVHCloud maintains conversations with the European Commission to become its service provider in the cloud, perhaps with some clumsiness and precipitation: it was the president of the French company, Octave Klaba, who announced it on the social network X, although shortly after he eliminated his message.
Apparently, the commission would be shuffling part of their workloads from Microsoft Azure to Ovhcloudmotivated by concerns about digital sovereignty. A movement that has not been officially confirmed, but has generated reactions. When consulted by The Register, the Commission just underlined its “flexible acquisition process” and remember that it currently already maintains a contract with OVHCloud as a European provider of cloud services.
The contract dates from 2020 and allows European institutions to use OVHCloud services under certain conditions, so far serving as a secondary alternative to the great US actors. Thus, the interest in expanding or raising it to a new level is interpreted as a significant step towards A more determined strategy in favor of European suppliersamong which OVHCloud can be considered as a giant.
The context, as always, explains a good part of the interest, and that is that the dominant presence of US hyperscators has generated a growing concern in Europe despite their predisposition for adapting. Why everyone knows: Trump administration does not frequently trustnot even compliance guarantees.
Technological giants, in fact, are contributing greater sense to this situation: Microsoft has tried to respond by launching initiatives such as Microsoft 365 local or the European security program; Amazon Web Services has also announced similar measures, as well as Google. But doubts persist, because all these companies are subject to unpredictable political turns.
In short, it is A political issue, but also strategic and economic. A European cloud would allow reinforcing technological autonomy, improving control over sensitive data and reducing infrastructure dependence undergoing external jurisdictions, such as the American. Something very similar to what happened recently in Denmark with the International Criminal Court. In any case, they are arguments gain weight in an environment where cybersecurity and data protection have become priority.
Which does not mean that the change is easy, of course. Analysts warn of difficulties: from the output costs of large suppliers to the lack of specific skills or the absence of really complete alternatives. And neither all the opinions among the great technological of the old continent are for the work. Without going any further, the SAP CEO warned precisely: about the convenience of full independence in cloud infrastructure.
