Alibaba Cloud announced on Wednesday that it has launched its first data centres in France, as it continues to expand its footprint in Europe amid growing calls on the continent for data sovereignty.

The move came as a response to increasing demand from customers in the region, the cloud computing services unit of Alibaba Group Holding said in a statement.

“The expansion of our cloud infrastructure into France reinforces our ongoing commitment to empowering European businesses with sovereign, secure, and intelligent solutions,” said Feifei Li, Alibaba Cloud’s chief technology officer and president of international business.

European businesses and regulators are placing a growing emphasis on data sovereignty, as demand for locally hosted cloud services climbs across the region.

The European Commission published its tech sovereignty package on June 3 in a bid to make the bloc “a global leader” in artificial intelligence and protect its “digital independence”.

The bloc’s Cloud and AI Development Act identified “limited data centre capacity” as a significant threat to its ability to benefit from the digital transformation.

The new facilities in Paris mark Alibaba Cloud’s third hub in Europe after Germany and Britain as the firm plans to roll out a suite of agentic AI services across the region in the second half of the year.