France and Germany have proposed a European cloud platform called “Gaia-X” as a way to reduce its dependence on U.S. tech companies (via Reuters).
Gaia-X Cloud Platform
A group of 22 French and German companies are working to set up a legal entity to run the platform. These companies include Atos, Bosch, Deutsche Telekom, SAP, and Siemens. This entity will be registered under Belgian law and function as a non-profit organization. The launch date is currently set for early 2021.
U.S. tech companies like Amazon (AWS), Google (Google Cloud) and Microsoft (Azure) currently dominate the cloud computing industry. France and Germany want European data to be stored and processed in European countries to maintain security and sovereignty.