Airbus is preparing to migrate its mission-critical applications to a sovereign European cloud, launching a tender worth over €50 million. The move reflects growing corporate concern over data control under U.S. laws like the CLOUD Act — and highlights the urgent need for mature, secure European alternatives, even as Airbus admits the odds of finding a suitable provider are only 80/20.

This effort is part of a broader industry push led by Airbus, Dassault Systèmes, OVHcloud, and others, who’ve called on the EU to create a sovereign infrastructure fund. Their goal: ensure Europe controls its digital future — from AI to cloud hardware — and reduces reliance on foreign tech giants.

The aerospace manufacturer, which has already consolidated its datacenter estate and uses services like Google Workspace, now wants to move key on-premises applications including ERP, manufacturing execution systems, CRM, and product lifecycle management (aircraft designs) to the cloud.

"I need a sovereign cloud because part of the information is extremely sensitive from a national and European perspective," Catherine Jestin, Airbus's executive vice president of digital, told The Register. "We want to ensure this information remains under European control."