AWS plans to open its first European Sovereign Cloud facility in Germany by the end of 2025 to keep European data on the continent.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has revealed plans to invest significantly in Germany over the next 16 years, as part of its European Sovereign Cloud initiative.
This cloud service is designed to meet EU data regulations by keeping sensitive data on the continent and having only EU-resident employees control its operations on the continent. As part of this, AWS plans to invest €7.8bn in Germany between now and 2040.
AWS said its will launch its first European Sovereign Cloud AWS Region in the German state of Brandenburg by the end of 2025. Meanwhile, the company said its long-term investment will lead to a “ripple effect” in the local cloud community.
Amazon’s cloud business said its planned investment is estimated to contribute €17.2bn to Germany’s GDP up to 2040 and support an average of 2,800 full-time equivalent jobs in local German businesses each year.
AWS also plans to create “highly-skilled permanent roles” to build and operate its European Sovereign Cloud. These jobs will include software engineers, systems developers and solutions architects.
“This investment reinforces our commitment to offer customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls, privacy safeguards and security features available in the cloud,” said Max Peterson, AWS VP of Sovereign Cloud. “We’re investing heavily in new local talent and infrastructure, which will help provide the operational sovereignty our customers require.
“This is an exciting milestone, and we’re looking forward to the ways that our customers and partners across Europe will drive further innovation with the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.”
Amazon claims to have invested more than €150bn in the EU since 2010. The company employs more than 150,000 people in permanent roles across the European Single Market.
The new service may be a response to increased scrutiny in the EU around data being transferred outside the bloc. Last year, draft documents seen by Reuters suggest that the EU is working on new legislation that would change how multinational cloud service providers operate in Europe. These rules would force multinationals like Amazon and Google to enter joint ventures with EU-based companies if they wish to handle sensitive data.
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