April 17 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Friday awarded a 180 million euro ($212 million) tender for sovereign cloud services to four European providers for a six-year period, as part of a push
EU Commission awards 180 million euro cloud contract to four European providers
European Commission's Push for Cloud Sovereignty
By Leo Marchandon
April 17 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Friday awarded a 180 million euro ($212 million) tender for sovereign cloud services to four European providers for a six-year period, as part of a push to reduce the bloc's dependence on non-European technology.
The Tender Process and Selected Providers
The tender, launched in October 2025, was awarded to Luxembourg's Post Telecom, Germany's StackIT, French Iliad's data centre unit Scaleway and Belgium's Proximus.
Strategic Objectives of the Tender
"This tender supports the Commission's broader efforts to enhance its own sovereignty, reinforcing strategic control across key technologies and infrastructure," the European Union's executive body said in a statement.
Cloud Sovereignty Framework Requirements
The providers were selected based on their alignment with the Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework, for which they had to ensure that non-EU entities have limited control over the technologies they use or the services they provide, the Commission said.
Consortiums and Partnerships
"Scaling the use of EU cloud is key to strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty," Henna Virkkunen, the EU's digital chief, said on X.
Post Telecom is bringing on partners OVHcloud and CleverCloud, while Proximus leads a consortium made up of Mistral AI, Clarence, and Thales and Google Cloud's data centre joint venture S3NS.
Impact on European Cloud Industry
OVHcloud founder and CEO Octave Klaba said in a post on X that the Post Telecom consortium had been selected to provide cloud services for the European Commission’s more than 40 agencies, allowing them to "prove there are credible alternatives in Europe".
Paris-listed shares of OVHcloud rose after the announcement and were up around 2.5% by 1005 GMT.
Additional Information
($1 = 0.8488 euros)
(Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
