Digital sovereignty efforts in Europe face infrastructure fragmentation

European organizations are increasingly prioritizing digital sovereignty, yet they face significant challenges regarding infrastructure fragmentation. According to the 2026 Global Data Insights Survey by Digital Realty, 86% of companies in the EMEA region are developing sovereign AI strategies, but 60% admit they lack a clear interconnection strategy.

Experts suggest that true sovereignty requires more than just data residency or jurisdictional control; it requires an architecture that allows data to move efficiently between clouds, data centers, and partners to avoid creating isolated digital islands. This has led to a rise in hybrid architectures where specific workloads are placed in colocation data centers to reduce latency and maintain control.

Aitor Jerez, commercial director at Sarenet, notes that infrastructure has transitioned from a technical cost to a strategic asset. He emphasizes that the cloud market is shifting from a debate over migration to a focus on where specific workloads should reside. Hybrid and distributed architectures are growing because they allow services to be placed where they offer the most value, balancing cost, latency, and security.