The AWS European Sovereign Cloud will be the only fully-featured, independently operated sovereign cloud, backed by strong technical controls, sovereign assurances and legal protections. It will have no critical dependencies on non-EU infrastructure, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud is operated only by personnel who are European Union (EU) residents located in the EU, subject to EU law.
Based on evolving customer requirements for digital sovereignty in Europe, we are adding EU citizenship to our hiring requirements for AWS European Sovereign Cloud employees operating the cloud. Our EU citizen personnel will work from EU locations subject to EU law, as before. We continue to offer customers more choice and control, so that they don't have to compromise on the full power of AWS to spark innovation, drive economic growth, and strengthen cybersecurity protection.
The AWS European Sovereign Cloud is designed to provide customers with an autonomous cloud that operates independently in Europe and for Europe. Replicating a broadly practiced mitigation mechanism that is established in EU institution and government hiring practices, operational control and access will be restricted to EU citizens located in the EU to ensure that all operators have enduring ties to the EU and to meet the needs of our customers and partners.
To assure independent operation of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, these new hiring requirements will apply to personnel who will have control of day-to-day operations, including access to data centers, technical support, and customer service.
As we make this change, we will continue to work as a blended team of EU residents and EU citizens, with all personnel working from EU locations, before gradually completing our transition to EU citizen operations for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. We are committed to supporting any employees impacted by this transition, and redeploying builders who do not meet the EU citizen eligibility requirement into other roles within Amazon.
We remain on track to launch the AWS European Sovereign Cloud by the end of 2025. This initiative, which is backed by a €7.8 billion investment through 2040, represents our deep commitment to meeting Europe's evolving digital sovereignty needs.
You can learn more about the AWS European Sovereign Cloud on aws.eu.
