According to Amazon Web Services, the European Sovereign Cloud will be ‘physically and logically separate’ from other AWS regions.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the general availability of a new, “independent” cloud service for Europe, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which is located within the EU and “physically and logically separate from other AWS regions”, according to the press release.

AWS has said it is the “only fully featured, independently operated sovereign cloud backed by strong technical controls, sovereign assurances and legal protections designed to meet the needs of European governments and enterprises for sensitive data”. The first AWS region in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud is located in Brandenburg, Germany.

The news comes amid AWS’ plans to extend the AWS European Sovereign Cloud footprint from Germany across the EU “to support stringent isolation, in-country data residency and low-latency requirements”, starting with new sovereign AWS Local Zones in Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal.

AWS Local Zones are a type of infrastructure that enables users to store their data in a specific geographic location with the purpose of meeting data residency requirements or running latency-sensitive applications.

Commenting on the announcement, Stéphane Israël, the managing director of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud and digital sovereignty, said: “Europe needs access to the most robust cloud and AI technology. The expansion of AWS innovation across Europe will help supercharge customers’ growth and AI ambitions.

“Customers want the best of both worlds – they want to be able to use AWS’ full portfolio of cloud and AI services while ensuring they can meet their stringent sovereignty requirements. By building a cloud that is European in its infrastructure, operations and governance, we’re empowering organisations to innovate with confidence while maintaining complete control over their digital assets.”

AWS said that the key capabilities of the cloud include European operational autonomy as AWS’ service is physically and logically separate from other AWS regions, is operated exclusively by EU residents, has no critical dependencies on non-EU infrastructure and can continue operations indefinitely, “even in the event of a communications disruption with the rest of the world”. 

Other stated capabilities include complete data residency where users keep all metadata they create entirely in the EU as well as technical and compliance controls, whereby data is protected by a system of security and European governance.

AWS has established a governance structure in Europe, with a new parent company and three local subsidiaries incorporated in Germany, which the company said is led by EU citizens who are “obligated to abide by European laws”. 

In 2024, as part of its long-term expansion strategy, AWS made a pledge to invest €7.8bn over 16 years to develop the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in Germany. At the time, AWS stated that the investment will support an average of 2,800 full-time equivalent jobs annually and add roughly €17.2bn to Germany’s GDP up to 2040.

In late November of last year, the European Commission announced an investigation into both Amazon and Microsoft to assess whether the companies should be designated as gatekeepers for their cloud computing services.

The EU said it needed to determine if AWS and Microsoft Azure should be considered as important gateways between businesses and consumers, despite not meeting the thresholds for size, user number and market position under the region’s Digital Markets Act.

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