Amazon Web Services (AWS) today confirmed plans to launch its European “sovereign cloud”, aiming to enhance data residency and security across the EU.

The city of Bradenburg in Germany will be the first region to host the cloud servers, which are set to power up by the end of 2025. AWS will invest €7.8bn through 2040.

According to the tech giant, the European sovereign cloud will have its entire infrastructure within the EU and will operate independently from existing cloud regions. Only EU-resident and bloc-based AWS employees will have access to the system.

The service is especially designed for public sector customers and private companies operating in highly-regulated industries, with increased requirements for data residency and autonomy.

As such, it enables cloud users to keep all data and their metadata within the EU.

AWS expects its investment to contribute €17.2bn to Germany's GDP by 2040, supporting an average of 2,800 full-time jobs per year within the data centre's supply chain.

Although it initially resisted the concept of a sovereign cloud, AWS first pledged to work on the service in 2022, amid mounting regulatory pressure and increasing competition.

Alongside Google and Microsoft, AWS's cloud services dominate the European market. But growing EU concerns over data handling and storage by overseas companies have resulted in a revamped data strategy and intensified the push towards digital sovereignty.

For their part, Google and Microsoft have already launched their own sovereign cloud solutions.