Airbus to migrate critical apps to a sovereign Euro cloud

Summary

Airbus is preparing a major tender to move mission-critical on-premises applications — including ERP, manufacturing execution systems (MES), CRM and product lifecycle management (aircraft designs) — to a digitally sovereign European cloud. The request for proposals is due in early January, with a decision expected before summer. The contract is understood to be worth more than €50m and could run for up to ten years with predictable pricing over the term.

Catherine Jestin, Airbus’s executive vice-president of digital, says the move is driven by both access to cloud-native innovations (for example SAP’s cloud-first development) and national/European sensitivity around certain data. Airbus wants services that keep sensitive information under European control and minimise exposure to extraterritorial laws such as the US CLOUD Act. Jestin estimates roughly an 80/20 chance of finding a suitable European provider, flagging scale and collaboration among local providers as potential hurdles.

Key Points

Airbus plans to tender migration of critical workloads (ERP, MES, CRM, PLM) to a sovereign European cloud.
RFP to launch in early January; decision expected before summer; contract worth >€50m and may last up to ten years with price predictability.
Primary drivers: access to cloud-native innovations (eg SAP S/4HANA) and desire to retain sensitive data under European control.
Concerns centre on extraterritorial access (US CLOUD Act) and recent geopolitical volatility under the Trump administration.
Major US cloud vendors have announced sovereignty offerings, but doubts remain about legal immunity and interruption risk.
Airbus rates the chance of finding a fully suitable European solution at around 80% — putting pressure on European providers to collaborate and scale fast.

Why should I read this?

Quick version: Airbus is moving the really sensitive stuff off US-flavoured clouds and wants a proper European home for it. If you’re in cloud, security, SAP migrations or EU tech policy, this affects supply chains, contracts and who gets the big business. It’s basically a litmus test for whether Europe can deliver truly sovereign cloud services at scale — and that’s worth a ten-minute read.

Context and Relevance

This story sits at the intersection of enterprise cloud strategy, geopolitics and vendor roadmaps. Large enterprises are being nudged to cloud-first platforms because vendors (notably SAP) are prioritising cloud innovation, making on-prem migrations increasingly untenable. At the same time, national-security concerns and laws like the US CLOUD Act are nudging European organisations toward ‘sovereign’ solutions.

Airbus’s tender is important because it tests whether European providers can offer the technical scale, commercial stability and legal assurances needed for critical aerospace workloads. A successful procurement would accelerate demand for European sovereign-cloud offerings and likely force more collaboration between regional providers. If Airbus fails to find a provider, it will underscore the continuing dominance — and perceived necessity — of large US cloud vendors despite sovereignty initiatives.

Source

Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/12/19/airbus_sovereign_cloud/