February 13, 2026
With Sovereign Cloud Spending Set to Triple, CCaaS is Going Local
According to Gartner, worldwide sovereign cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) spending is expected to reach 80 billion dollars in 2026, representing a 35 percent annual increase.
This surge reflects a structural shift in how organisations think about cloud adoption. The emphasis is no longer simply on switching on-premises contact centres for cloud-based ‘CCaaS’ platforms. Instead, organisations are becoming increasingly focused on where cloud infrastructure is located and who controls it. Will the next big movement in the contact centre space be from CCaaS to Sovereign CCaaS?
Rene Buest, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, points to geopolitics as being a major driver behind the move towards sovereign cloud infrastructure: “As geopolitical tensions rise, organisations outside the U.S. and China are investing more in sovereign cloud IaaS to gain digital and technological independence.”
Partly in response to this, regulation is also tightening. Frameworks such as the EU Data Governance Act, France’s SecNumCloud certification and Germany’s C5 standard are reshaping procurement decisions and, in some cases, restricting foreign hyperscalers from hosting sensitive data.
From a CCaaS perspective, the shift is driven by the need to meet these escalating compliance requirements and deliver better customer experiences, as customers are increasingly concerned about where their data is stored.
Hyperscalers Dominate but Regional Pressure Mounts
Despite the rise of sovereign infrastructure, global cloud market share remains highly concentrated. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud together account for roughly 60 percent of the global market, according to Statistica.
This does not necessarily mean they are the most popular choice within a given region. Sovereign cloud is inherently regional although hyperscalers often provide country specific environments designed to meet local regulations, sometimes described as ‘guardrail sovereign services’.
For example, while the US-based AWS is the United States’ number one cloud provider, it is also a popular sovereign cloud choice in Europe. Similarly, Alibaba Cloud is a hyperscaler and Asia’s largest cloud provider, which simultaneously provides extensive infrastructure across multiple countries and regulatory environments.
Oracle is another hyperscaler which deserves a mention. Also a US company, Oracle operates dedicated sovereign cloud environments in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. It is capable of keeping data, operations and support personnel fully within regional jurisdictions. In Japan, regional cloud providers like NTT Data and Softbank have formed partnerships with Oracle to offer its cloud services under their own brand names and with sovereign data controls baked in.
Regional Cloud Providers
Fully domestic providers, however, represent serious competition within national markets where jurisdictional control is a priority.
OVHcloud is one of Europe’s most prominent sovereign infrastructure providers. Headquartered in France, the company operates more than 40 data centres across four continents, runs over 450,000 servers and serves more than 1.6 million customers in 140 countries. OVHcloud positions itself strongly around European digital autonomy, offering infrastructure designed to comply with regional data protection rules while giving organisations full control over data location and governance. Recently, France also decided to gain greater digital independence across collaboration platforms used within its digital borders.
Another influential player is SAP. Based in Germany, SAP’s sovereign model is also being adopted internationally. It has recently been deployed in Canada amid a broader policy push for greater technological independence from the United States. Prior to this, SAP collaborated with AWS to provide cloud sovereignty in Europe. As with NTT Data and Softbank, SAP utilises hyperscaler environments along with its own platform and software.
Oracle maintains one of the largest cloud footprints in South America yet regional providers, such as Serpro, Dataprev and Cloud Carib, deliver nationally controlled infrastructure across Brazil, Ecuador and Panama. Domestic providers in the public sector and regulated markets are playing a growing role in the regions.
Evidently, there isn’t a black and white divide between hyperscalers and regional cloud providers; the two often overlap. To confuse things a little more, companies can also choose to leverage multiple cloud providers so that they can get the best of both hyperscaler speed, cost, and efficiency and regional data sovereignty.
What This Means for CCaaS Strategy
For now, sovereign cloud adoption remains optional for most businesses, and many organisations are likely to hesitate given the higher costs often associated with sovereign data environments. The overall direction, however, is unmistakable. Governments are tightening control over data, enterprises are becoming more cautious about cross border exposure, and customers are placing increasing value on privacy and trust.
As well as data clouds, apps which harness data like AI chatbots are another technological battleground that CX providers will need to navigate. While 2025 was marked by widespread discussion around sovereign cloud, current market forecasts suggest that this is the year businesses begin turning words into action.
