Sovereignty has become one of the biggest topics of conversation in the tech world; especially, but not exclusively, in Europe.
In December 2025, BT Business, the unit within BT Group that targets the UK B2B and public sector markets, became the latest provider to deliver a ‘suite’ of sovereign digital services.
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BT’s product launch cited the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’, published at the start of 2025 which recommended that the UK Government should ‘create a new unit, UK Sovereign AI, with the power to partner with the private sector to deliver the clear mandate of maximising the UK’s stake in frontier AI.’
In November 2025, the EU’s member states signed the “Declaration for European Digital Sovereignty” the opening line of which states “At the heart of European digital policy lies digital sovereignty.” The Spain-headquartered global telecoms service provider Telefónica has also weighed heavily into the sovereignty debate during 2025 calling for the EU to allow greater consolidation in the European telecoms market to enable European telcos to invest more in sovereign digital services.
The technical sovereignty debate has increased in intensity
While the technical sovereignty debate has increased in intensity in 2025, it is not a new phenomenon. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force in 2018, can be seen as an early move in the data sovereignty battle. Subsequent acts such as the Data Governance Act and the more recent Data Act have further tightened the rules around the handling of data. But it is national laws in countries such as France and Germany that have added a stronger sovereign element to data laws, especially, but not exclusively, for personal and public sector data.
The increasingly fractious geopolitical scene is a key factor in recent interest in digital sovereignty. State-sponsored cyber criminals are a growing threat. Trade wars also create the risk of critical technologies becoming damagingly expensive or even inaccessible. The need to stimulate growth in European economies is a reason for national Governments and the EU to try and encourage investment in local tech companies. And, of course, there is AI – both in its importance to the future competitiveness of European countries in the global economy and because of the new threats it brings. It is easy to understand why countries would be concerned about relying on AI technology over which they have limited control.
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By GlobalDataSovereignty is not just a European trend. Many countries in Asia such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines have increasingly stringent data laws with a growing sovereign element. Research by the leading data and analytics company GlobalData’s shows that, on the issue of how enterprises handle data, corporate policies often have an impact either equal to or greater than local or regional legislation .
Data sovereignty is here to stay
Gary Barton, Research Director in GlobalData Technology’s Enterprise Technology and Services team, observed: “Enterprises we speak to are of course very aware of the need to adhere to increasingly complex data laws across the jurisdictions in which they operate. However, companies in verticals such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and the finance sector tend to have their own data policies that are even stricter.”
Barton continues: “The need to protect commercially sensitive data such as research or industrial processes from cyber criminals is a primary concern. We are seeing these concerns have a clear impact in the technologies enterprises chose to use and how they use them. Corporate sovereignty requirements also influence, and sometime hinder, the deployment of AI significantly. Data scraping by AI platforms is also a consideration and is making businesses more aware of the need to protect data in transit as well as in data centers.”
Data sovereignty is here to stay. As Governments seek to protect their citizens and economic interests and enterprises act to protect their commercial secrets, AI will only increase in its perceived importance
