The Illusion of the EU Cloud: Why Microsoft Guarantees Nothing
The End of Innocence for the European Cloud
For years, European companies were told a reassuring story: "Your data resides in Frankfurt or Dublin, so it is safe from foreign government access." This narrative, often marketed as the "sovereign EU cloud," has now finally cracked – and the confirmation comes from the very top.
The Confession Before the Senate
In June 2025, a remarkable hearing took place before the French Senate. Anton Carniaux, General Counsel of Microsoft France, was questioned under oath. His statement marks a turning point in the debate on digital sovereignty:
"I cannot guarantee that data of French citizens will never be transferred upon order of the US government."
With this, Microsoft officially confirmed what privacy advocates and lawyers have been warning about for years: Physical storage of data on European soil does not protect against the extraterritorial reach of the US CLOUD Act. As long as a US company (like Microsoft, Amazon, or Google) controls the servers, it is subject to US law – regardless of where the hardware is located.
Bitlocker: When Encryption Doesn't Protect
Another argument of the hyperscalers has always been encryption. But here too, the façade is crumbling. It recently became known that Microsoft handed over Bitlocker keys to US authorities. While the company emphasized in a damage control statement that this only happens in "about 20 cases annually," the message is devastating: Encryption where the key lies with the provider is no protection against state access.
Geopolitical Tensions as a Risk
The situation is exacerbated by growing geopolitical tensions between the US and the EU. Trade conflicts, tariffs, and strategic differences (keyword: Greenland) make dependence on US infrastructure an incalculable risk. A company whose entire AI strategy is based on Azure OpenAI is vulnerable to blackmail or at least dependent on political decisions in Washington in an emergency.
Why "GDPR-compliant" US Tools Are Often Deceptive
Many AI tools on the market advertise "Made in Germany" or "GDPR compliant." But a look under the hood often reveals: They are mere wrappers around APIs from OpenAI or Anthropic. Data is "processed" in Europe, but ultimately flows through the models of US giants. True sovereignty looks different.
The Kivanto Way: True Independence
At Kivanto.ai, we consciously decided against the easy path. We do not use wrappers around US APIs. Our platform is based on:
- Local Inference: Our models run on servers fully under European legal jurisdiction – or even on-premise in your own data center if desired.
- Proprietary Model Architecture: We train and fine-tune specialized models that function independently of Azure or AWS.
- Transparency: No black-box access by third parties. You retain full control over your data and keys.
In a world where data is the new oil, sovereignty is not a luxury, but a question of survival. Do not rely on guarantees that even the provider cannot keep.