Tech Desk 
Jan 16, 2026
Amazon's AWS on Thursday launched a new cloud service situated in Europe, addressing user concerns about the data security delivered by mainly United States (US)-based providers by offering the continent’s own independent alternative.
Speaking to Reuters, AWS Germany Chief Technology Officer Michael Hanisch said this service will allow the cloud to operate even if the European Union were disconnected from the internet or the United States were to prohibit software exports.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud’s data centres are physically and legally separate from the US-based company’s other servers. Europeans are looking for alternatives to largely US-dominated tech amid concerns about the legal data access allowed to authorities.
The other two major U.S. cloud providers, Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, are also vying for customers with heightened data security requirements.
Microsoft, upon request, stores the data of European customers exclusively in data centres located within Europe, while Google announced investments of 5.5 billion euros ($6.41 billion) in German data centres last year.
AWS said: "The cloud will be secured with controls, sovereignty assurances and legal safeguards that meet European government and business requirements for processing sensitive data."
Hanisch added that the European AWS cloud will be operated and monitored by a German company whose management and advisory board are staffed by EU citizens, and all employees will eventually be required to hold EU citizenship.
