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SAP Bets €300 Million on France to Lead Europe’s Sovereign Cloud and AI Race

Prime Highlights

  • SAP could become the first non-French cloud provider to achieve SecNumCloud qualification, marking a breakthrough in Franco-German digital cooperation.
  • SAP’s CEO stated the investment helps organisations innovate while staying fully aligned with French and European regulatory standards.

Key Facts

  • SAP is a global enterprise software leader with over 50 years of experience, listed on the NYSE.
  • SecNumCloud is a rigorous French cloud security qualification administered by national cybersecurity agency ANSSI.

Background

SAP is aiming to strengthen its independent cloud infrastructure and reliable Business AI things, for which it announced a long-term investment of up to €300 million in France. The announcement came during the Choose France summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron. The investment covers direct funding alongside spending on sales, operations, and customer support.

As part of the commitment, SAP plans to open a new sovereign cloud and AI region in Paris featuring three data centre sites, with operations set to begin in the first quarter of 2027. The company also targets creating hundreds of new jobs in France linked to sovereign cloud and AI deployments.

Defence corporation Thales becomes the first major customer under this initiative, moving its SAP systems to the S3NS trusted cloud platform. The initiative seeks to offer its services to the public sector and heavily regulated industries, which demand the highest levels of security, compliance, and control.

According to SAP’s CEO, digital sovereignty has become a key strategy in today’s geopolitics. Further, the company’s CEO said that the initiative enhances their sovereign cloud and trusted Business AI offerings in France and enables organisations to innovate in full compliance with French and European laws.

The reason why the above achievement stands out is because SAP may be the first foreign provider of cloud services to be certified for its SecNumCloud solution by the French cyber agency ANSSI. According to analysts, this marks a turning point in Franco-German digital cooperation. The use of SAP’s AI-first development framework, Joule Studio, will help organisations develop and manage trusted AI solutions in a secure and regulated environment.