The Bottom Line: German companies increasingly want to make cloud infrastructure more sovereign but are not yet willing to accept significant performance losses – while European alternatives remain unavailable.
According to the Cloud Report 2026 from the Bitkom Association, 85 percent of German companies rate dependence on US American cloud providers as too high – an increase of seven percentage points compared to the previous year. For CDOs, this means rising requirements for data sovereignty and risk mitigation in sourcing.
The Cloud Report 2026 from the digital association Bitkom is based on a survey of 603 companies with at least 20 employees in Germany. 85 percent see dependence on US cloud infrastructure as problematic (previous year: 78 percent). At the same time, 80 percent wish for powerful European or German alternatives to the global market leaders. For 64 percent of cloud users, political developments in the US prompted them to reconsider their existing cloud strategy.
The current market situation stands in stark contrast to this demand: While 71 percent of companies currently use US American cloud services, ideally only 8 percent would do so. German providers, by contrast, are used by 53 percent but preferred by 91 percent. The central obstacle: 43 percent see no equivalent European alternatives to the major US hyperscalers. This creates a tension field for CDOs between security requirements, functionality, and availability.
A growing minority shows willingness to make compromises. The share of companies willing to place data processing entirely in Germany while accepting operational or financial restrictions has increased from 27 percent (2024) to 37 percent (2025). Specifically, respondents accept: longer wait times for new features (25 percent), worse usability or reduced service (17 percent), forgoing individual features (14 percent), or additional costs of 10 to 20 percent (12 percent).
IT security is the primary driver for cloud adoption. 75 percent of cloud users (86 percent of all companies use cloud services) cite security as the main motivation for migration – an increase of 18 percentage points compared to 2024. Artificial intelligence is becoming the second growth engine: Currently 42 percent procure AI services via cloud infrastructure; in five years an increase to 69 percent is forecast. However: 64 percent of businesses recorded higher cloud operating costs in 2024, with the trend rising.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published June 17, 2026
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