A sovereign cloud is a hosting infrastructure whose data, operations and governance fall outside any extra-European jurisdiction. In practice: your data stays in Europe, is operated by an entity not subject to US law, and no one can be compelled to hand it to a foreign power.

For organisations handling sensitive or regulated data, this is no longer a preference — it is a condition of compliance and continuity.

What is a sovereign cloud?

Sovereignty is not about a flag or a data-centre address. It is measured on three planes, and a cloud is only truly sovereign if it covers all three:

• Data sovereignty — storage and processing solely in Europe, with customer-controlled keys (HSM/KMS).
• Operational sovereignty — administration by staff and companies under European law, with no remote access from a third jurisdiction.
• Legal sovereignty — immunity to extraterritorial laws like the US CLOUD Act, guaranteed by the provider's ownership and contracts.

Hosting "in Europe" that fails any of these — for example an offer technically operated under a US licence — is not sovereign in the strong sense.

Sovereign cloud vs trusted cloud

The trusted cloud is the certified, most demanding expression of sovereignty (in France, the SecNumCloud-qualified label). A sovereign cloud is the broader concept. Every trusted cloud is sovereign; not every "sovereign" offer is qualified.

The main sovereign cloud providers

The market includes OVHcloud and the hyperscalers' sovereign offers — AWS European Sovereign Cloud, Microsoft, SAP, Google, Oracle. They are not equivalent: some are certified on fully controlled technology, others rely on US-licensed stacks that weaken legal sovereignty. Our sovereign cloud comparison breaks this down provider by provider.

Do you need a sovereign cloud?

It depends on your data. Health data (healthcare hosting), sensitive personal data, trade secrets, public-sector missions: here sovereignty is not optional. The move is a structured project, run in stages with guaranteed reversibility.

Request a consultation — our experts assess your sovereignty needs and the right migration path. Talk to an expert

Frequently asked questions

What is a sovereign cloud?

An infrastructure whose data, operation and governance fall outside extra-European jurisdictions, so your data cannot be handed to a foreign power.

What is the difference between sovereign cloud and trusted cloud?

A trusted cloud is the certified (e.g. SecNumCloud) version of a sovereign cloud.

Who are the sovereign cloud providers?

OVHcloud and the hyperscalers' sovereign offers (AWS, Microsoft, SAP, Google, Oracle) — with varying real sovereignty, detailed in our comparison.