Wired reports early signs that some European companies and governments are moving away from using American cloud services such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), citing privacy concerns and uncertainty over US policy.
Wired reports early signs that some European companies and governments are moving away from using American cloud services such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), citing privacy concerns and uncertainty over US policy.
Some organizations are already reviewing their use of these companies' cloud services, including servers, storage and databases, Wired reports .
«There is a huge desire in Europe to de-risk or reduce over-reliance on American technology companies because there is a fear that they could be used against European interests,» said Mariette Schaake, a visiting fellow at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and a former member of the European Parliament who worked there for a decade.
These steps can already be taken. On March 18, politicians in the Dutch House of Representatives passed eight motions asking the government to reduce its reliance on American technology companies and switch to European alternatives. A few days earlier, more than 100 organizations signed an open letter to European officials calling on the continent to become «more technologically independent» and saying that the status quo poses «risks to security and reliability.»
Two European cloud services companies, Exoscale and Elastx, said they have seen a surge in potential customers looking to move away from U.S. cloud providers in the past two weeks, with some already starting to do so. Numerous technology consultants say they are having discussions about what it takes to uproot services, data and systems.
«We have increasing demand from all over Europe. Some customers have been very outspoken. Especially customers from Denmark, who have been very clear that they want to move away from American companies because of the US administration and what they have said about Greenland,» said Matthias Neubauer, CEO of Swiss hosting provider Exoscale.
«It’s a big concern because of the uncertainty around everything. And from a European perspective, the US is maybe not on the same team with us anymore. These are the factors that are forcing people or organizations to look for alternatives,» says Joakim Oman, CEO of Swedish cloud provider Elastx.
Dave Kottlhuber, founder of SkunkWerks, a small Austrian technology infrastructure company, says that since the beginning of the year he has moved several of the company’s servers and databases from American providers to European services.
«First of all, it’s about values. For me, privacy is a right, not a privilege,» says Kottlehuber. He added that the decision to move is easier for a small business like his, but he argues that it deprives him of part of the taxes paid to the Trump administration.
Steffen Schmidt, CEO of Medicusdata, a company that provides text-to-speech services to doctors and hospitals in Europe, says that having data in Europe has always «been a necessity,» but in recent weeks his clients have been asking for more.
«Since the beginning of 2025, in addition to data residency guarantees, customers have been actively asking us to use cloud providers that are European companies,» says Schmidt, adding that some of his services have been ported to Exoscale.
Recall that earlier, Elon Musk once again speculated about the possible shutdown of Starlink for Ukraine in order to end the war faster. His statement provoked a reaction from Poland, which finances satellite internet for Ukrainian defenders.
Initially, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski responded to Musk’s statement, stating that Starlink for Ukraine is paid for by the Polish Ministry of Digitalization, and it costs almost $50 million per year. The SpaceX owner responded by advising him to shut up and calling him a «little man.»
Elon Musk later assured that he would never disable Starlink terminals for Ukraine. But amid talk of a possible Starlink shutdown in Ukraine and the search for alternatives, shares of Franco-British satellite group Eutelsat more than tripled, adding more than 1 billion euros to its market capitalization.
