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The Rise of EU Cloud Sovereignty and Open Source Alternatives

· 4min · Pragmatic AI Labs
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The Rise of EU Cloud Sovereignty and Open Source Alternatives

2025-02-25

As geopolitical tensions increase between the US and Europe, we're witnessing the emergence of European cloud sovereignty and open source cloud solutions. While US hyperscalers still dominate the EU market, European providers are positioning themselves as true sovereignty alternatives, offering complete vertical integration and independence from US technology stacks.

EU Cloud Providers

European Cloud Landscape

Market Dynamics

The EU cloud market remains dominated by familiar players, with AWS leading at approximately 33% market share, followed by Microsoft Azure (~25%) and Google Cloud Platform (~10%). The largest EU-headquartered provider, OVHcloud, holds about 5% of the market. This distribution mirrors the global pattern but is beginning to shift as European sovereignty concerns gain prominence.

Sovereign European Providers

Three key European cloud providers are positioning themselves as fully sovereign alternatives:

  • OVHcloud (France): Custom servers manufactured in-house, proprietary Linux-based virtualization, self-built European fiber backbone

  • Scaleway (France): ARM-based server architecture, custom hypervisor, growing integration with French AI ecosystem

  • Hetzner (Germany): Bare metal-focused solutions, 100% European datacenters, in-house DDoS protection systems

Each offers varying degrees of independence from US technology components, though complete independence remains challenging due to processor architecture dependencies and complex supply chains.

Open Source Cloud Platforms

Enterprise-Ready Solutions

For organizations seeking greater control and sovereignty, open source cloud platforms offer compelling alternatives:

  • OpenStack: The most mature enterprise-ready open source cloud platform with comprehensive infrastructure-as-a-service functionality. Key components include Nova (compute), Swift (object storage), and Neutron (networking).

  • Kubernetes: While not a complete cloud platform on its own, Kubernetes provides container orchestration that enables workload portability across providers. Its exceptional scalability, self-healing capabilities, and declarative configuration make it a fundamental building block for cloud independence.

Secondary and Emerging Options

Other notable open source cloud platforms include:

  • Apache CloudStack: Enterprise-grade IaaS with straightforward single management server architecture
  • OpenNebula: Lightweight virtualization management with lower resource requirements
  • Rancher/K3s: Simplified Kubernetes distribution optimized for edge computing
  • OKD: The upstream project for Red Hat OpenShift, adding developer-focused capabilities to Kubernetes

Key Benefits

  • True Sovereignty: European-owned and operated cloud infrastructure free from US legal jurisdiction
  • Ethical Differentiation: European emphasis on privacy, data rights, and human-centered innovation
  • Technical Control: Open source foundations allow customization and prevent vendor lock-in
  • Geopolitical Independence: Reduced exposure to US-China tensions and shifting alliances

The bifurcation between US and European technology ecosystems creates significant opportunities for European cloud providers and open source solutions. As more organizations prioritize data sovereignty and ethical technology practices, we're likely to see accelerated growth in both European cloud adoption and open source alternatives to traditional hyperscaler services.

Example: Deploying to OpenStack with Kubernetes integration

openstack server create --image ubuntu-20.04 --flavor m1.small \
  --key-name my-key --security-group my-security-group \
  --network my-network my-kubernetes-node

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