AWS says only Europeans will run its European Sovereign Cloud service

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AWS is attempting to allay fears over its European Sovereign Cloud, promising that it will be operated by EU citizens only.

The service will be the only fully-featured, independently operated sovereign cloud, according to the hyperscaler, backed by strong technical controls, sovereign assurances and legal protections.

Notably, the service will have no critical dependencies on non-EU infrastructure.

As part of the shift, EU citizenship is to be added to the company's hiring requirements for AWS employees operating the cloud. This will ensure that staff with control of day-to-day operations, including access to data centers, technical support, and customer service will be EU residents exclusively, subject to EU law.

"The AWS European Sovereign Cloud is designed to provide customers with an autonomous cloud that operates independently in Europe and for Europe," the company said in a statement.

According to AWS, the move replicates a widely-used mitigation mechanism that's already established in the hiring practices of EU institutions and governments.

In the meantime, the company will continue to work as a blended team of EU residents and EU citizens, with all personnel working from EU locations, before gradually completing the switch to EU citizen operations for the sovereign cloud service.

"We are committed to supporting any employees impacted by this transition, and redeploying builders who do not meet the EU citizen eligibility requirement into other roles within Amazon," said the firm.

AWS said it's on track to launch the AWS European Sovereign Cloud by the end of this year, backed by a €7.8 billion investment through 2040.

The announcement comes as concern rises in the EU that sovereign cloud isn't always as ‘sovereign’ as it should be. The US Cloud Act means that companies can be forced to hand over data, regardless of where it is stored.

Last month, Anton Carniaux, Microsoft France's director of public and legal affairs, admitted that he couldn't guarantee that French citizen data would never be transmitted to US authorities without explicit French authorization.

The admission came during testimony before a French Senate inquiry into the role of public procurement in promoting digital sovereignty.

Recent analysis from Synergy Research Group found that US cloud providers, including Amazon, Microsoft and Google Cloud, hold a 70% share of the European market, compared with just 15% for local firms.

IT leaders are also becoming increasingly concerned about the influence of US-based cloud providers on the European market. More than half of UK IT leaders using public or hybrid cloud setups told Asanti that they’re planning to ditch US firms as a result of data sovereignty concerns.

AWS is keen to impress that its existing relationships with European regulators will be enough to calm worries about US overreach on this front.

"We’ve had deep engagements with European regulators, including national cybersecurity and data protection authorities, and customers to understand their sovereignty requirements and test our sovereignty approach,” the firm said.

“We designed the AWS European Sovereign Cloud to meet these stringent regulatory, data residency, and operational needs."

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Emma Woollacott is a freelance journalist writing for publications including the BBC, Private Eye, Forbes, Raconteur and specialist technology titles.