Amazon has announced the launch of independent cloud services for Europe, in what seems to be an attempt to allay fears over EU data sovereignty.
The tech giant will be rolling out the Amazon Web Services (AWS) European Sovereign Cloud, which is especially designed for public sector customers and private companies operating in highly-regulated industries.
Starting with Germany, the cloud will be set up on servers located within Europe, while only EU-resident and bloc-based AWS employees will have control of its operation.
The new system will be separate from other existing cloud regions, and customer data “will not be used for any purpose” without prior agreement. Meanwhile, for customers with increased data residency needs, it will be possible to keep the metadata they create within the EU.
Alongside Google and Microsoft, AWS’s cloud services dominate the European market. As the number of critical businesses and governmental agencies relying on these platforms soars , there’s growing EU concern over how data is being handled and stored by non-European companies.
In response, the bloc has been pushing for “digital sovereignty,” aiming to regain control of both its data and technology. In July for example, the new Brussels-Washington deal on data flows sought to increase transfer safety, by adding safeguards such as a review court for data protection and restricted access to the bloc’s data by US intelligence services.
Meanwhile, Amazon is under pressure to comply with the EU’s new set of rules on content moderation and fair competition, the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
