- EU Tech Sovereignty Package could push Amazon, Microsoft, Google out of more public sector contracts
- The new rules would determine which public sector data should be stored on European clouds
- 2018 Cloud Act is also a concern – sovereign cloud doesn't prevent US law enforcement access
The European Commission is reportedly considering imposing new rules whichcould prevent US hyperscalers from processing highly sensitive government and public sector data within the bloc.
CNBC reports the Commission is expected to release its 'Tech Sovereignty Package' on May 27 2026, with a goal of increasing Europe's tech independence and sovereignty by reducing its reliance on foreign tech companies.
With Amazon accounting for around one-third of the cloud market globally and Microsoft and Google jointly making up around another third, it could give smaller European competitors a fighting chance in the market.
Europe continues to push for tech sovereignty
It's likely that the potential upcoming rules would focus on sensitive categories like health records, financial information and legal data, with current discussions mostly tackling the public sector and not private companies.
"The core idea is defining sectors that have to be hosted on European cloud capacity," an unnamed official familiar with the matter cited by CNBC explained.
While the move is primarily a pro-European push rather than an anti-US effort, it would disproportionately affect US companies given their market dominance.
One of the likely key drivers in Europe's bid to become more independent would be America's 2018 Cloud Act, which in theory allows US law enforcement to request user data from any American company, regardless of whether the data is stored locally in Europe.
That hasn't stopped US hyperscalers from trying to pacify European companies and customers, with Microsoft launching the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud and teaming up with local firms like France's Bleu and Germany's Delos. Amazon also has its own AWS European Sovereign Cloud, and Google Cloud offers a series of sovereign and air-gapped solutions too.
For now, though, it's just a waiting game as to how the European Commission will define the future of tech sovereignty and whether all 27 member nations agree with the changes.
