For digital sovereignty: Germany demands its own cloud providers!

For digital sovereignty: Germany demands its own cloud providers!

On June 11, 2025, the digital association Bitkom published the “Cloud Report 2025”, which highlights the perspectives of German companies on cloud services. The survey analyzed 604 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany. The results show a clear dependence on cloud services: 62% of companies said they would be at a standstill without these technologies. In addition, an overwhelming majority of 78% believe Germany is too dependent on US cloud providers.

Meanwhile, 82% of respondents want large cloud providers from Germany or Europe. These claims reflect a growing concern in the business community, rooted in the current geopolitical situation and influences of US politics. In fact, 50% of cloud-using companies are rethinking their cloud strategy due to the new US administration.

Growing trust in domestic providers

Trust in the origin of cloud services plays a central role: 97% of cloud users value trustworthy countries of origin, and 67% consider this to be a mandatory requirement when choosing a provider. What is particularly noteworthy is that 100% of respondents prefer German providers, while 61% also consider European providers.

In terms of usage, the numbers show a notable increase: 90% of companies are already using cloud applications, compared to 81% last year. The preference is clearly for private clouds (74%), followed by public clouds (59%). Hybrid cloud solutions are used by 29%, while 41% pursue a multi-cloud strategy.

Dependence on US hyperscalers was also an issue raised by Cloudahead was illuminated. Hyperscalers such as AWS, Microsoft and Google have created a dominant market over the years, which reached a value of around 41.6 billion euros in 2022. Their user-friendliness and the rapid provision of IT infrastructure brought a significant advantage.

Challenges and opportunities for European providers

Bitkom's survey shows that 46% of companies plan to make higher investments in cloud services in the current year. 68% of companies are looking for ways to advance the digitalization of internal processes using cloud technologies. Another aspect is its use to increase IT security (60%) and reduce costs (55%).

Despite these positive trends, there are concerns: 53% of companies feel at the mercy of providers and 51% expect increasing operating costs. The criteria when choosing a provider are primarily IT security, data protection and compliance, as 99% of those surveyed stated. The challenges of US hyperscalers regarding digital sovereignty even give rise to the idea of ​​migrating a third of critical applications to self-sufficient European clouds.

Sovereign clouds, such as those from T-Systems or Oracle, are intended to help give European companies more control over their data and allay concerns about dependence on US providers. This development could also strengthen the European cloud market and be an important answer to the wishes for more regional sovereignty expressed in the Bitkom study.