Amazon Web Services (AWS) has expanded its European Sovereign Cloud to Portugal, creating a local data zone that ensures nationwide access while complying with EU regulations like GDPR. The announcement was made this Wednesday in Potsdam, Germany, where the cloud operates independently from other AWS data centers.
The European Sovereign Cloud is part of a €7.8 billion investment by AWS in Germany through 2040, designed to offer stricter data security, full European autonomy, and low-latency services. Portugal joins Belgium and the Netherlands in hosting local zones, allowing companies and public administrations to run latency-sensitive applications while keeping complete control over their data.
Key features include:
- European Autonomy: Physically and administratively separate from other AWS regions.
- Data Residency: Full control over data location and metadata within the EU.
- Advanced Technical Controls: Nitro System ensures encrypted, secure access with strong physical and logical barriers.
- EU Governance: Managed by EU residents with local subsidiaries and an advisory board of European citizens.
The expansion reinforces Portugal’s attractiveness for high-value digital infrastructure and opens the door for sectors from healthcare and finance to energy and public administration to leverage secure, AI-ready cloud solutions.
AWS says local zones and dedicated services allow companies to balance full AWS portfolio access with sovereignty compliance, while contributing to job creation and digital innovation across Europe.
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