Amazon’s cloud computing division to invest $8.5 billion in sovereign cloud center in Germany

Amazon plans to invest $8.5 billion in building a “sovereign cloud” center in Germany, a move amid the EU’s efforts to protect European data by putting it on domestic servers

With plans to invest 7.8 billion euros ($8.5 billion) in building a “sovereign cloud” center in Germany, Amazon’s cloud computing business on Wednesday, announced a big investment on the continent amid EU’s attempts to protect European data by putting it on domestic servers.

The first sovereign cloud facility is expected to be built in the German state of Brandenburg and will be operational by the end of 2025, according to information disclosed by the tech giant on Wednesday.

The project is a response to European governmental agencies and businesses that have been reluctant to fully adopt cloud computing due to concerns about possible data transfers outside of European countries, especially to the United States.

Last year, European Sovereign Cloud was launched by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in an attempt to ease these worries and comply with Europe’s strict data privacy laws. With infrastructure located only in Europe and run independently from other parts of the world, this project seeks to enable users to retain data residency within the EU.

AWS vice president of Sovereign Cloud Max Peterson underlined the importance of this investment, saying, “This investment reinforces our commitment to offer customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards, and security features available in the cloud.”

This action is in line with European leaders’ calls for “digital sovereignty,” which aim to give the EU authority over its data and technological environment, which is now controlled by US corporate behemoths like Microsoft, Google, and AWS. Based on data from the European Commission, these three corporations own around 80 percent of the European public cloud market combined.

Source: AFP