As geopolitical tremors ripple across the Atlantic, European cloud users are re-evaluating their digital allegiances. A growing number of organizations, especially in the wake of recent US policy shifts and data privacy concerns, are increasingly questioning their reliance on American hyperscalers.

At KubeCon EU, conversations previously filled with AI hype suddenly turned strongly in the direction of digital sovereignty. CIVO and Nextcloud both indicate a significant increase in requests from clients seeking alternatives to AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud. Mark Boost, CIVO CEO, characterized the shift in attitude as “fast and unexpected,” even for established opponents of hyperscaler hegemony.

Frank Karlitschek, CEO of Nextcloud, pointed to three drivers behind the shift: uncertainty sparked by unpredictable US policies, escalating pricing concerns due to tariffs, and a newfound fear around surveillance and data misuse. “It’s no longer just about cost,” he said. “It’s about trust.”

These fears aren’t limited to just boardroom paranoia. Reports of EU staff traveling to the US with burner phones, combined with broader economic tension, have only amplified anxieties about data control and jurisdiction. Even US-based Vultr confirmed it had seen renewed interest in sovereign infrastructure, with organizations demanding clarity on where their data lives and who controls it.

Migration, though, is not immediate. European vendors caution that a transition away from rooted hyperscaler platforms can take months, even years. But others are speeding up the process, citing increasing regulatory and political risks.

Although few companies have announced publicly that they plan to abandon the cloud completely, the grassroots level of concern indicates that Europe’s cloud future might depend less on technology and more on trust.