- Many European customers actively keep away from American tech giants for privateness causes
- Social media and cloud storage are priorities for customers
- EU firms solely have 15% of the European cloud market
4 in 5 European customers say it issues whether or not or not companies use European expertise, confirming that digital sovereignty has now grow to be a precedence for the plenty.
A research by Proton of three,000 UK, France and Germany customers reveals that they’re starting to view a firm’s digital infrastructure as a part of its model and values, fairly than a back-office determination that has no impression on customers.
As a outcome, almost half (45%) stated they would actively keep away from firms that retailer buyer knowledge with US companies, with extra concern over privateness and safety than worth or high quality.
Digital sovereignty speaks volumes to customers
This additionally aligns with European Fee ‘Eurobarometer’ knowledge revealing that three-fifths (58%) of the bloc’s residents would be keen to change to an EU-based digital service supplier, even when that meant paying a greater charge.
The report argues this reliance on US hyperscalers like AWS, Microsoft, Google and Meta can now not be seen as a impartial business determination within the eyes of European customers, who’re more and more involved over privateness, surveillance and geopolitical dependence.
Social media (48%), e mail (46%), messaging apps (40%) and different services that straight deal with private communications and knowledge have been seen as essentially the most at-risk amongst customers, Proton discovered. Aside from communications, cloud storage (38%) was one other nice fear, together with browsers (31%).
Two in three (65%) now additionally imagine that European small companies ought to prioritize European tech suppliers over US ones, and never from a supporting native firms viewpoint. Customers are extra inquisitive about sovereignty, conserving investments inside Europe and decreasing reliance on international tech distributors.
As many as 4 in 5 (83%) now fear about society’s dependence on Big Tech and the way a small variety of hyperscalers now dominate the market. Attitudes have shifted quickly, Proton says, due to deteriorating US-Europe geopolitical tensions and the continued debate over US surveillance legal guidelines which stop distributors from having the ability to totally supply sovereign choices.
The US CLOUD Act is a particular fear for European residents, as a result of it permits US legislation enforcement to entry knowledge held by American expertise firms, even when it’s saved inside European knowledge facilities.
Buyer knowledge use can also be a rising concern, the place their info could also be getting used to practice AI fashions that solely serve to assist these US giants.
The fact of US tech reliance
All of this comes amid rising US dependence, with three-quarters (74%) of publicly listed European firms counting on US tech suppliers, per an earlier Proton report.
Google and Microsoft alone account for 84% of the worldwide workplace productiveness market, with Amazon, Microsoft and Google collectively taking on a 66% of the cloud market. Proton’s full report particulars how European suppliers solely maintain a collective 15% of the European cloud market.
“Shopping for tech from the US used to appear to be a no brainer,” Proton COO Raphael Auphan admitted, indicating an understanding of why European customers are so deeply reliant on US software program.
Tariffs on European exports, NATO tensions and American criticism over EU regulation – all of which falling underneath Trump’s presidency – are to blame, the Swiss firm says.
However Auphan now describes counting on US tech as a “industrial legal responsibility” for companies. “It is more and more clear that buyers care about digital provide chains, and US tech is turning into a weak hyperlink.”
“The EU runs on Microsoft,” Finnish MEP Aura Sally stated on the 2026 Open Supply Coverage Summit. “The US may flip us off inside one hour.”
Nevertheless, an in a single day migration away from US hyperscalers isn’t such a straightforward transfer, and whereas Proton is attempting to supply some paths with the current addition of Gmail migration with zero downtime, a full stack transfer may take years, shopping for well-funded American tech giants time to provide you with extra regional options to stop customers from wanting to migrate within the first place.
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