By launching a new call for projects with several tens of millions of euros, France is trying to revive the construction of an independent cloud offer. But this initiative, carried by Clara Chappaz, intervenes in a context of critical dependence on American giants. For Europe, time is running out.
On April 14, during the evening of digital sovereignty in Bercy, Clara Chappaz, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital, confirmed the launch of a call for projects “to strengthen the offer of cloud services” as part of the France 2030 plan. Estimated amount: several tens of millions of euros. Objective: to bring out competitive European solutions, capable of integrating the latest technological advances, especially in artificial intelligence.
This revival marks a turning point. She closes a decade of dead ends, advertisements without tomorrow and technical compromises. THE sovereign cloudlong perceived as a technocratic mirage, returns to the front of the stage as sine qua non of European strategic autonomy.
A dependence that has become critical
Today, The cloud offer in France is controlled by the GAFAM. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud trust public tenders, host sensitive data from large companies and operate critical infrastructure. This technological imbalance is coupled with a legal risk: American actors remain subject to Cloud Actwhich authorizes the American authorities to access the data, even hosted outside the territory of the United States.
The previous one of Health Data Hubattributed to Microsoft, illustrated the vulnerability of the system. Despite alerts of French parliamentarians, experts and industrial actors, the government has maintained the choice of a supplier subject to extraterritorial legislation.
The failure of the first sovereign cloud
The promise of a French sovereign cloud is not new. In 2012, Cloudwatt (Orange-Thales) and Numergy (SFR-Bull) projects were launched with state support, which left 75 million euros from the 150 planned. Ten years later, the two initiatives died, stifled by their unstable governance, an uncompetitive offer and the absence of adoption by the administrations.
Faced with this failure, the government has revised its position. In 2021, he opted for a hybrid solution: the cloud of trust. This label, supervised by the ANSSI, allows GAFAM subsidiaries operated by French players (S3NS for Google/Thales, Blue for Microsoft/Orange/Capgemini) to offer secure services, compliant with the GDPR and placed under French governance. However, this solution remains technically dependent on American software bricks.
A more realistic revival?
The new initiative carried by Clara Chappaz is distinguished by a clear articulation between public funding, industrial mobilization and political will. The call for projects explicitly aims to build alternatives efficientcapable of competing with American hyperscalers, on strategic segments: AI, health data, defense, public services.
In parallel, a Digital sovereignty observatory will be implemented, to map French technological dependencies and guide industrial policies. THE Strategic committee for “Confidence software and digital solutions”piloted by Michel Paulin, ex-CEO of OVHCLOUD, was mobilized to ensure coordination between companies, administration and research.
Europe as a horizon, or as an alibi?
If France wants to weigh, it will have to be part of a European dynamic. But the differences persist. Germany favors the industrial approach via Gaia-X, still embryonic. Italy and Spain are increasing partnerships with Microsoft and Amazon. Without rapid political convergencethe risk is to see Europe again miss the constitution of a unified cloud market.
The stake exceeds the technique. It affects the ability of Europe to defend legal, economic and democratic sovereignty in a fragmented world. As Clara Chappaz recalled: “There is no lasting economic prosperity without digital sovereignty. »» At the time of artificial intelligence, post-quantic encryption and geopolitical tensions, this assertion is less of posture than necessity.
