The big idea is to keep European customer data inside the EU, ticking the GDPR compliance box and avoiding dependence on Uncle Sam’s cloudy overlords at Microsoft and Amazon.

SAP plans to expand into infrastructure-as-a-service, normally the turf of the big US hyperscalers, and will offer a new on-site option where SAP kit runs inside customers’ own data centres.

SAP board member for customer services and delivery Thomas Saueressig told hacks in a virtual press conference: “Innovation and sovereignty cannot be two separate things. It needs to come together.” He stressed that European firms must be able to access AI in a “full sovereign context.”

Technological sovereignty has become the buzzword du jour as geopolitical tensions push countries to on-shore computing muscle needed for AI training and deployment. Microsoft and Amazon have already announced EU-friendly sovereign cloud initiatives to stop Brussels regulators twitching.

The European Commission, which has been banging on about catching up with the US and China in AI, has earmarked €20 billion for so-called AI gigafactories packed with supercomputers. SAP says it is “closely” involved in that project but will not be leading it.

Saueressig also claimed SAP’s €20 billion pledge will not dent short-term spending plans because it is already factored into its financial roadmap.