Alibaba Cloud opens first France data centres amid EU sovereignty push

On Wednesday, Alibaba Cloud unveiled its inaugural data centres in France, marking a significant expansion of its European infrastructure to meet rising demand and support the EU's initiative for data sovereignty. These new facilities in Paris represent the company's third hub in Europe, following existing sites in Germany and Britain. Feifei Li, the CTO of Alibaba Cloud and president of international business, emphasized that this expansion underscores the firm’s dedication to delivering sovereign, secure, and intelligent solutions to European enterprises. This initiative aligns with the European Commission's tech sovereignty package released on June 3, aimed at establishing the EU as a leader in AI and safeguarding its digital autonomy. The EU's Cloud and AI Development Act has recognized limited data centre capacity as a major obstacle to digital transformation. In the latter half of the year, Alibaba Cloud intends to introduce agentic AI services throughout the region.