The CEO of SAP, Europe’s most valuable company, believes it is pointless for Europe to build its own data centers to compete with the large American cloud providers. These companies have already invested heavily in the region.
During an investment conference, SAP CEO Christian Klein (photo) said that the company has entered into partnerships with French AI company Mistral and service provider Capgemini. The aim is to offer customers in Europe more control over their data. However, he believes that it does not make sense to attempt the same in the field of cloud infrastructure. According to him, SAP already offers customers who are concerned about AI and data management full control over their data. This was reported by The Register.
Nevertheless, he spoke out against attempts to replicate the services of the American cloud giants, even though they claim to guarantee European data security. Microsoft, Google, and, more recently, AWS have all stated that they offer secure options for European customers in response to growing concerns about American political developments.
Competing with hyperscalers is nonsense
Klein believes that the idea of setting up countless data centers in Europe to compete with the American hyperscalers is completely nonsensical. In his view, this is not a good way to achieve digital sovereignty. What Europe needs, he says, is to use the best technology—such as AI and smart software—to produce more efficiently and improve supply chains.
He also pointed to the high energy costs in Europe, which make building new data centers unattractive. SAP offers customers different levels of data security and sovereignty, but remains completely neutral when it comes to the underlying infrastructure, he said during an event organized by investment bank BNP Paribas.
Against a backdrop of growing tensions between the US and Europe, European leaders announced an international digital strategy to better cope with technological developments and geopolitical shifts.
US governments ignore court rulings
Although US cloud providers are trying to reassure European customers about their handling of data, some European politicians remain concerned about the ease with which US authorities ignore court rulings.
SAP is not alone in expressing doubts about the idea of European independence at the infrastructure level. Experts told The Register last month that in practice, European organizations can’t match the infrastructure of US providers.
In March, SAP became Europe’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of approximately $342.4 billion.