Bull and Schwarz Digits are teaming up to create a “Franco-German foundation” for sovereign AI

Schwarz Digits and Bull have revealed plans to develop an “independent” European AI and cloud infrastructure ecosystem as the duo target sovereignty gains for enterprises across the region.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) will see the two companies team up to provide organizations operating in regulated and strategic sectors with a dedicated “sovereign AI architecture”.

Development of the service will draw upon the combined strengths of the two companies, with Schwarz Digits leading on building out cloud infrastructure capabilities through its STACKIT service.

STACKIT first launched in 2018 as an internal platform for Schwarz Group before launching externally in 2022. The service provides enterprises with dedicated sovereign cloud capabilities, with all data stored and processed entirely within Europe.

Bull, meanwhile, will leverage its expertise in AI and high-performance computing (HPC) to support the sovereign AI architecture, providing manufacturing capabilities and direct liquid cooling (DLC) technology for the project.

Manufacturing will be led from Bull’s flagship factory in Angers, France. The company recently reopened the expanded site amid plans to double production capacity, per October reports from Reuters.

Bernie Wagner, CRO of Schwarz Digits, said the collaboration will create a “robust Franco-German” sovereignty framework for European organizations across the public and private sectors.

“European organizations, especially across strategic and regulated industries, cannot afford to choose between cutting-edge computing performance and data sovereignty,” he commented.

“Our alliance with Bull establishes a robust Franco-German foundation for enterprise AI. Through STACKIT, we deliver an open, independent cloud environment that keeps sensitive infrastructure and operational workflows firmly under European governance.”

Schwarz Digits targets BullSequana gains

According to Schwarz Digits, bringing the BullSequana AI platform to the STACKIT Marketplace will play a crucial role in helping to “accelerate its availability to enterprise and public sector customers”.

This will provide organizations with access to AI software solutions built entirely under European jurisdiction. Indeed, the duo noted that the new architecture will prioritize the use of European-designed software capabilities across the proposed stack.

“Building on our experience in AI and high-performance computing, and on STACKIT’s cloud infrastructure, we aim to give European organisations capabilities they can deploy and control, whether to accelerate AI adoption or scale enterprise computing,” said Emmanuel Le Roux, CEO of Bull.

“This collaboration reaffirms Bull’s commitment to developing European AI infrastructure, alongside other initiatives and ecosystems we are actively involved in across the continent.

"This partnership, which contributes to building a sovereign digital infrastructure in Europe, reflects our commitment to a resilient and competitive European ecosystem.”

Sovereignty in the spotlight

The move by Schwarz Digits marks the latest in a string of sovereignty-related partnerships in recent months.

As ITPro reported in late July, the company announced a deal with Zscaler to create a sovereign cloud security service for European users. The partnership will see Zscaler’s Zero Trust Exchange platform combined with Schwarz Digits’ STACKIT service.

Long-term, the duo said the aim is to provide a sovereign Zero Trust Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform for organisations spanning both the public and private sectors.

Zscaler said the new service comes in direct response to growing concerns over both sovereignty and AI-driven threats, and will primarily target organizations in the public sector, defense, financial services, and healthcare sectors.

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