European aerospace company Airbus is moving some of its critical enterprise applications from Amazon Web Services to French cloud provider Scaleway in a significant example of Europe’s push for data sovereignty.
The migration will begin with approximately 70 applications currently hosted on AWS and eventually could encompass as many as 900 systems over the next five to six years. These applications are required for the Airbus’ minimum viable company operations, including ERP, manufacturing execution systems, CRM, and product lifecycle management software.
Airbus selected Scaleway following an evaluation of more than 150 technical and legal requirements. According to Airbus CDO Catherine Jestin, the company weighed technical capabilities, operational resilience, commercial competitiveness, and legal protections before choosing the French cloud provider. One key consideration was ensuring that critical data would remain protected from foreign extraterritorial laws while still providing enterprise-grade cloud performance.
The decision is part of a larger European effort to strengthen digital sovereignty as cloud infrastructure becomes ever more central to critical industries. The issue has gained prominence because the U.S. CLOUD Act permits American authorities, under certain circumstances, to request access to data managed by US-based cloud providers even when that information resides in overseas data centers.
For European organizations operating in aerospace, defense, and other strategically important sectors, questions surrounding jurisdiction have become as important as cloud performance or cost.
Continuing to Deploy American Tech
Despite the migration, Airbus is not abandoning US tech vendors. The company will continue operating several major platforms on AWS, including its Skywise aviation analytics platform and customer support systems.
Microsoft and Google productivity software also remain part of Airbus’ tech portfolio, alongside enterprise applications from Salesforce, Coupa, and Workday. The company says future cloud decisions will continue to depend on the sensitivity of individual workloads rather than pursuing a wholesale replacement of American tech providers.
The Scaleway agreement also supports Airbus’ AI strategy. The company recently announced a partnership with French AI startup Mistral to develop customized AI tools for aerospace and defense applications. Because Mistral’s foundation models already operate on Scaleway’s infrastructure, Airbus expects the new cloud environment to accelerate deployment of AI capabilities across industrial operations while keeping sensitive defense information within European infrastructure.
Beyond conventional enterprise applications, the migration demonstrates changing priorities for industrial cloud computing. Since many enterprise software vendors deliver their newest capabilities through cloud platforms, cloud adoption is vital for manufacturers modernizing ERP and other core business systems. For manufacturers like Airbus, balancing access to cloud innovation with regulatory compliance has become an essential technology decision.
The agreement also spotlights Europe’s determination to build greater domestic cloud capacity as AI becomes embedded in critical infrastructure. The European Commission has proposed new initiatives to expand regional cloud and AI infrastructure, while European companies evaluate how best to protect sensitive industrial and government data.
