Amazon Web Services (AWS) is expanding its European operations with the creation of a local zone in Lisbon, connected to its new European sovereign cloud in Germany. The Portuguese center will serve as a hub to evaluate AWS’s further expansion across the EU and complement its €7.8 billion sovereign cloud investment in Germany.
AWS CEO Matt Garman confirmed the Lisbon local zone is outside the German budget, though he did not disclose its cost or opening date. “We will see how these cases [in Portugal, Belgium, and the Netherlands] develop and may consider others as demand materializes,” he said, emphasizing AWS’s methodical approach to digital sovereignty in Europe.
The Lisbon center will adhere to the same strict rules as the German sovereign cloud, including full data encryption and operational independence. AWS vice president Colm MacCarthaigh stressed that customer data is fully secure: “We don’t want to see it or touch it.”
The Portuguese ambassador to Germany, Madalena Fischer, highlighted that the investment aligns with Portugal’s National Digital Strategy 2026-2027, including a €1 billion plan to enhance digitization and skills.
AWS explained that the local zone model provides low-latency cloud services closer to companies and public institutions. The Lisbon project represents the evolution of plans first announced in 2021, after an earlier 2022 proposal was revised.
Garman also emphasized AWS’s sustainability commitments, including air-cooled data centers and carbon neutrality by 2030. The Lisbon zone will use similar energy- and water-efficient systems as the Brandenburg site.
This step reinforces AWS’s strategy to provide complete, sovereign cloud solutions in Europe, rather than relying on partial or limited offerings like some competitors.
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