Amazon Web Services and SAP are expanding their collaboration to give European organizations more control over their data and processes in the cloud. Both companies announced that SAP Sovereign Cloud solutions will be available in AWS’s European Sovereign Cloud.
This infrastructure is part of a planned €7.8 billion investment by Amazon. AWS and SAP have long worked together to offer cloud and business solutions. While SAP contributes its expertise in business applications, AWS provides the infrastructure and operational support. Both parties emphasize that digital sovereignty plays a central role in this. This applies to organizations in regulated sectors. It also applies to governments that are bound by strict rules regarding data use and storage.
According to David Brown, Vice President of Compute and Machine Learning at AWS, the expansion gives customers more opportunities to combine innovation with compliance with local legislation. He argues that the link between SAP and AWS enables organizations to better leverage artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies within a strictly regulated framework.
Investment in sovereign cloud infrastructure
For SAP, the collaboration complements a much broader strategy. Earlier this month, the German software company announced it would invest €20 billion in its own fully managed sovereign cloud infrastructure. With SAP Cloud Infrastructure and SAP Sovereign Cloud On-Site, SAP aims to give European customers complete control over their data and infrastructure.
Several models are offered, ranging from cloud solutions that run entirely within the EU to on-site variants that customers manage directly. A separate subsidiary, Delos Cloud, already exists for the German public sector. This company provides IT services and offers a sovereign version of Microsoft 365 without Microsoft itself having access.
The investments are part of a broader movement in which SAP is positioning itself as the European counterpart to American cloud giants. While AWS, Microsoft, and Google have launched their own sovereign cloud initiatives in recent years, SAP emphasizes that, as a European company, it is not restricted by American legislation. In doing so, the company hopes to play a distinctive role in a market where digital autonomy is becoming increasingly important.
Sovereign framework for AI
According to Thomas Saueressig, member of the SAP Executive Board, the collaboration with AWS is a practical step toward giving customers faster access to sovereign cloud solutions. At the same time, he sees SAP’s own investments as a foundation for a more independent European digital infrastructure. He emphasizes that the future of Europe’s technological position depends in part on the extent to which AI can be applied within a sovereign framework.
AWS’s European Sovereign Cloud is being set up as a completely independent region. It is therefore separate from existing AWS infrastructure outside the EU. Customers should benefit from the same security standards and services as elsewhere. But with additional guarantees for compliance with European legislation and operational autonomy. For SAP customers, this means that their most important business applications and ERP processes can run in a trusted environment. All while benefiting from the scale and innovative power of the AWS cloud.
The collaboration makes it clear that digital sovereignty is a strategic priority in the European technology sector. While European governments are discussing the creation of their own government clouds, international and European suppliers are taking steps to offer a wide range of solutions that combine compliance, innovation, and autonomy.
Also read: SAP Cloud Infrastructure is European sovereign competition for AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud