SAP is pushing its sovereignty plans forward with something called the EU AI Cloud—a unified approach meant to bring all its regional AI and cloud efforts under one roof. In simple terms, SAP wants organisations in Europe to have more freedom and control over how they run their cloud and AI systems.
The EU AI Cloud is flexible, too. It’s designed for companies using SAP’s own data centres, other European providers, or even on-premise setups if they need tighter control.
Strengthening Europe’s hold on AI
SAP is also teaming up with Cohere to give customers access to new agent-style and multimodal AI tools through Cohere North. These models will be available through the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), which is especially helpful for industries that have strict requirements around where their data can live. SAP and Cohere say their shared goal is simple: let enterprises build powerful AI without giving up control or performance.
Cohere puts it pretty clearly—their partnership with SAP is all about keeping advanced AI within reach for organisations that can’t move their data outside Europe.
SAP isn’t doing this alone. The EU AI Cloud is being built with help from several European and global partners. Models and apps from Cohere, Mistral AI, OpenAI, and others are already integrated into SAP BTP. Companies can tap into partner XaaS tools and choose exactly where they want to run them.
At the end of the day, SAP wants public and private organisations to use modern AI tools while still meeting Europe’s tough standards for security, data protection, and digital sovereignty.
Deployment choices based on different security needs
EU AI Cloud runs through SAP Sovereign Cloud, giving customers options for how much control they want over their tech stack. AI models run on SAP’s European cloud infrastructure and SAP BTP, keeping operations fully separate from US hyperscalers.
Here’s how companies can deploy it:
SAP Sovereign Cloud on SAP Cloud Infrastructure (EU)
SAP’s infrastructure-as-a-service runs on open-source tools inside its European data centre network. Everything stays inside the EU to meet regional data protection rules.
SAP Sovereign Cloud On-Site
Here, SAP manages the infrastructure, but it’s physically located in a data centre chosen by the customer. This setup offers the highest level of control—over data, operations, and legal requirements—while still giving access to SAP’s cloud features.
Selected hyperscalers, depending on the market
Some organisations may still choose to run SAP commercial SaaS on global cloud providers. If they do, SAP lets them add sovereignty features based on their regional needs.
Delos Cloud
This is a sovereign cloud service in Germany tailored specifically for the public sector.
Overall, the EU AI Cloud gives European organisations more ways to run AI and cloud workloads while deciding their own level of data control. With its mix of deployment models, partner integrations, and sovereign architecture, the platform aims to support businesses and public groups that must follow strict rules around privacy, data storage, and operational independence.
