Is your Data on European Servers of US-Hyperscalers?
Microsoft admits: "No, We Can’t Guarantee It"
TL;DR ⏱️
- Microsoft France admitted under oath: EU data on U.S. hyperscalers isn’t fully protected
- U.S. CLOUD Act enables access without informing you
- Enterprises need exit plans & sovereign AI options
Background
👩🏼⚖️ On 10 June 2025, before a French Senate inquiry on public procurement and digital sovereignty, Microsoft France’s General Counsel Anton Carniaux admitted under oath that the company cannot guarantee U.S. authorities will never obtain French/EU customer data.
🇺🇸 The U.S. CLOUD Act obliges providers under U.S. jurisdiction to hand over data they control, wherever it sits.
🤯 Even worse: you might not even be told it happened! Courts can issue nondisclosure orders blocking providers from notifying you for months or longer.
What have I done:
I analyzed the implications for enterprises relying on U.S. hyperscalers to store sensitive data. Key questions every business should ask:
- Which workloads or datasets (PII, trade secrets, “crown jewels”) would be mission-critical if disclosed or accessed?
- Do our contracts include enforceable anti-extraterritoriality and notification clauses, and can the vendor honor them under U.S. law?
- Are we relying on “EU-only” subsidiaries or marketing claims without independent audits?
- What is our exit or migration plan if a provider is compelled to shut off, transfer, or mirror data?
IMHO:
🤖 This is why we at Comma Soft AG built Alan.de, a self-hosted Large Language Model General Framework. It lets enterprises process and enrich their own data without routing it through hyperscalers bound by U.S. statutes.
🇪🇺 Running on infrastructure hosted in Germany with non–Big Tech providers maximizes legal, operational, and ethical comfort. For teams that can’t afford “maybe,” sovereignty is not optional.
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#artificialintelligence #euai #alan #microsoft #cloudact