Amazon Web Services has launched a new cloud platform designed to operate entirely within Europe, aiming to address long-standing concerns around data sovereignty and reliance on US-based providers.

The AWS European Sovereign Cloud, which became available on Thursday, is physically and legally separate from AWS’s existing global infrastructure. All data centres, operations and governance for the platform are located within the European Union, with the first region based in Brandenburg, Germany.

AWS said the new cloud can continue operating even if the EU were disconnected from the wider internet or if the United States were to impose restrictions on software exports. Speaking to Reuters, AWS Germany chief technology officer Michael Hanisch said the design was intended to give European customers greater assurance that their data and workloads would remain under European control.

The launch comes as European governments and organisations increasingly seek alternatives to US-dominated cloud providers, amid concerns over foreign legal access to data. Under the US Cloud Act, American authorities can compel US-based companies to provide access to data, even when that data is stored outside the United States.

Microsoft and Google have both made moves to address similar concerns. Microsoft allows European customers to store data exclusively within European data centres, while Google last year announced a €5.5 billion investment in data centre infrastructure in Germany. AWS, however, is positioning its sovereign cloud as a more structurally independent offering.

According to AWS, the European Sovereign Cloud is a fully separate cloud infrastructure, operating independently from existing AWS regions. It includes multiple availability zones with redundant power and networking, and has no critical dependencies on non-EU infrastructure or personnel.

Operations, technical support and customer service will be handled from within the EU, with AWS gradually transitioning the platform to be operated exclusively by EU citizens based in Europe. The infrastructure is managed through dedicated European legal entities established under German law, with governance overseen by EU-based managing directors and an advisory board made up entirely of EU citizens.

The company says the platform provides enhanced data residency guarantees, with both customer content and customer-created metadata, such as roles, permissions and configurations, remaining within the EU by default. Identity and access management, billing systems and certificate authority operations are also hosted within Europe, alongside dedicated DNS infrastructure using European top-level domains.

AWS added that technical controls are in place to prevent access to the European Sovereign Cloud from outside the EU. The platform maintains the same core security features as other AWS regions, including encryption, key management and the AWS Nitro System for hardware-level isolation. It will also undergo independent third-party audits, including ISO 27001, SOC reports and Germany’s BSI C5 attestation.

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At launch, the sovereign cloud supports a broad range of AWS services, including compute, storage, networking, databases and container orchestration, as well as AI and machine learning tools such as Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock. AWS said the service portfolio will continue to expand over time, with sovereign local zones planned for Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal.

The European Sovereign Cloud is backed by a €7.8 billion investment, which AWS estimates will contribute €17.2 billion to the European economy by 2040 and support around 2,800 jobs annually in local businesses.

While the platform is available to customers globally, AWS said it is specifically aimed at public sector bodies and organisations in highly regulated industries that require strict data residency, operational autonomy and governance independence within the EU.