Why European Companies Are Rethinking IT Infrastructure for Digital Sovereignty

European businesses are increasingly outsourcing core operations to non-EU cloud platforms, raising serious concerns about data control and regulatory compliance. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), enacted over seven years ago, sets strict rules on data handling, yet many firms still rely on US-based providers that can share data with American authorities. This creates legal grey areas and strategic risks including vendor lock-in, sudden cost spikes, and loss of operational independence. Experts recommend replacing critical infrastructure components with sovereign alternatives such as self-hosted solutions, EU-certified SaaS platforms, or hybrid-cloud setups using tools like Nextcloud, OVHcloud, and Hetzner. The goal is not to abandon cloud services entirely, but to ensure sensitive data remains under European legal jurisdiction and company control.