Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing division, is forming a new parent company and three subsidiaries in Germany as part of a sovereign cloud the company is launching in the European Union.
AWS VP Kathrin Renz will serve as managing director of AWS’ German corporate parent, which will also be led by EU-based “government security and privacy official[s],” according to Amazon. The German company will oversee the aforementioned new sovereign cloud, the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which is scheduled to launch by the end of 2025.
“Everything needed to operate the AWS European Sovereign Cloud is in the EU,” wrote AWS in a blog post. “In addition to independent infrastructure, there will be zero operational control outside of EU borders; only AWS employees, residing in the EU, will control day-to-day operations, including access to data centers, technical support, and customer service for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.”
A growing number of tech giants and cloud providers, including Amazon rivals Microsoft and Google, offer European sovereign cloud, or data residency, programs. These help customers comply with European local privacy and data protection laws like the GDPR and Germany’s Federal Data Protection Act.
AWS announced in May 2024 that it would invest €7.8 billion (roughly $8.8 billion) to build the AWS European Sovereign Cloud in Germany through 2040, with the first cloud “region” to go live in the State of Brandenburg.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will feature infrastructure located within the EU and operated independently from AWS’ existing cloud computing regions, according to Amazon. Customers using it will be able to keep their data and metadata — including the configurations they use to run AWS — in the EU to comply with applicable laws and regulations, Amazon says.
In addition to the new corporate presence in Germany, AWS says that it’s establishing an advisory board made up of EU citizens and a dedicated European security operations center.
“[W]e’ve designed the AWS European Sovereign Cloud to address European digital sovereignty requirements while maintaining the services portfolio, security, reliability, and performance that customers expect from AWS,” Renz said in a statement. “Our investment in the AWS European Sovereign Cloud reinforces our commitment to Europe’s digital future.”
Amazon has found itself in the crosshairs of European regulators before for failing to comply with EU competition and data privacy rules.
In 2021, Luxembourg’s data watchdog slapped Amazon with a then-record €746 million (around $849 million) fine for allegedly processing user data for targeted advertising without seeking people’s consent. And in 2022, AWS settled an EU antitrust probe into how it allegedly abused rivals’ sales data to unfairly favor its own products.
