Thought Leadership
The German software group SAP announces massive investments in sovereign cloud infrastructure. The company wants to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty with over 20 billion euros over the next ten years.
SAP announced on Tuesday that it will invest over 20 billion euros in the expansion of its sovereign cloud capacities in Europe over the next ten years. The investment is intended to strengthen Europe’s position in the global AI race while ensuring the data sovereignty of European companies. “With the expanded offerings of the SAP Sovereign Cloud portfolio, European customers will have access to a comprehensive technology stack that includes both SAP Cloud Infrastructure and SAP Sovereign Cloud On-Site,” according to a statement.
New IaaS platform and on-site options
The Walldorf-based company is expanding its offering to include an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform that gives companies access to various computing services via SAP’s data center network. SAP is thus entering a market that has so far been dominated by heavyweights such as Microsoft and Amazon.
SAP is also introducing a new on-site option that allows customers to use SAP-operated infrastructure within their own data centers. This solution offers maximum control over sensitive data with simultaneous access to modern cloud services. The offering is rounded out by the Delos Cloud, which is intended for the public sector.
Data protection as a central component
The aim of the initiative is to ensure that customer data is stored within the European Union in order to guarantee compliance with regional data protection regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
“Innovation and sovereignty cannot be two separate things – they have to come together,” explained Thomas Saueressig, SAP Executive Board Member for Customer Service and Delivery, during a virtual press conference on Tuesday. It is important that European companies have access to the latest technological developments such as artificial intelligence “in a fully sovereign context”.
Geopolitical tensions drive sovereignty efforts
Digital sovereignty has become much more important in recent years as geopolitical tensions force companies to rethink their dependence on foreign technologies. Countries around the world are increasingly trying to bring the computing infrastructure needed to train and operate powerful AI systems into their own countries.
Investment already integrated in financial planning
The SAP manager emphasized that the more than 20 billion euro investment in Europe’s sovereign cloud capacities will not change the company’s capital expenditure for next year, as it has already been incorporated into the financial plans.
