# Europe's digital autonomy and dependence on US cloud providers

DevFeed: [Europe's digital autonomy and dependence on US cloud providers](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/europe-s-executives-need-to-skill-up-to-solve-our-total-us-cloud-dependency-36400.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/ft-on-european-cloud/>)

Published: 2026-01-10T10:08:02Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Bert Hubert's writings](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/bert-hubert-s-writings.md>)

Topics: [Cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud.md>), [cloud-infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud-infrastructure.md>), [Computing](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/computing.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>), [amazon](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/amazon.md>), [Google](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/google.md>), [Microsoft](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/microsoft.md>)

Tags: [amazon](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/amazon.md>), [cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cloud.md>), [digital-autonomy](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/digital-autonomy.md>), [europe](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/europe.md>), [google](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/google.md>), [international](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/international.md>), [microsoft](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/microsoft.md>), [tech](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tech.md>)

## AI overview

An opinion article argues that Europe's dependence on US cloud providers is overstated because many large IT systems can run on locally owned or rented computers. It criticizes European decision-makers for treating Amazon, Microsoft, and Google as the only viable options, while noting the legal and operational risks of moving sensitive government data to foreign cloud services.

## Source excerpt

Europe is experiencing a crisis of digital autonomy. Our dependence on US big tech has been growing for decades and is now nearly total, at a time when worries about our former ally are no longer theoretical. Might we, like the International Criminal Court in The Hague, find ourselves locked out of our own mailboxes if we say something that is upsetting to the US government? This post was written in response to an article in the Financial Times.