TL;DR
Airbus plans a major procurement to migrate key on-premises applications — including ERP, manufacturing execution, CRM and product lifecycle systems — to a European sovereign cloud. The company has set an RFP to launch in early January with a decision expected before summer on a contract potentially worth more than €50m and lasting up to ten years.
What happened
Airbus has opened preparations for a tender to shift mission‑critical workloads from on‑premises datacentres into a digitally sovereign European cloud. The move targets core systems such as ERP, manufacturing execution, CRM and product lifecycle management, driven in part by software vendors developing innovations that are cloud‑native. Airbus has already consolidated its datacentre estate and uses cloud services for collaboration, but wants European control over especially sensitive information for national and continental security reasons. Executive vice president of digital Catherine Jestin told The Register the company needs a sovereign environment and is awaiting regulatory clarity on whether such a setup would be insulated from extraterritorial laws and potential service interruptions. The RFP is due to be issued in early January, with a decision expected before the summer, and Airbus anticipates a long‑term deal with predictable pricing spanning up to ten years and a value understood to exceed €50 million. Jestin estimates roughly an 80% chance of finding a suitable provider.
Why it matters
- Shifting critical aerospace systems to a European sovereign cloud would tighten control over sensitive data tied to national and continental security.
- The tender pressures European cloud providers to scale and collaborate to meet complex, high‑assurance enterprise needs.
- Broader industry migration is being driven by enterprise software vendors favouring cloud‑native development, potentially forcing legacy on‑prem customers to move.
- Geopolitical concerns and legal frameworks, such as questions about extraterritorial access to data, are now influencing major enterprise cloud procurement decisions.
Key facts
- Airbus plans to migrate ERP, manufacturing execution, CRM and product lifecycle management systems to a European sovereign cloud.
- An RFP is scheduled to launch in early January; Airbus expects to decide before the summer.
- The contract is expected to be long term (up to ten years) with price predictability and is understood to be worth more than €50 million.
- Airbus has already consolidated its datacentre estate and uses cloud collaboration tools such as Google Workspace.
- Catherine Jestin, Airbus EVP of digital, said the company needs a sovereign cloud because some information is highly sensitive from a national and European standpoint.
- Jestin estimated roughly an 80/20 chance of finding a suitable European provider that meets Airbus’s requirements.
- The procurement is partly driven by vendors (for example, SAP) developing innovations exclusively in the cloud, pressuring customers to adopt cloud platforms like S/4HANA.
- Concerns about US extraterritorial laws — including the CLOUD Act — and related risks to data and service continuity are motivating the search for European control.
- Microsoft acknowledged in a French court last July it could not guarantee data sovereignty under US legislative provisions, according to reporting.
- A reported incident involving the ICC chief prosecutor losing access to Microsoft email after sanctions was cited as an example of service disruption risk; Microsoft denies suspending ICC services.
What to watch next
- Whether Airbus selects a single European cloud provider or a consortium of providers capable of meeting scale and sovereignty requirements.
- Regulatory guidance from European authorities clarifying the extent to which a sovereign cloud can shield data from extraterritorial laws and avoid service interruption.
- Timetable: the RFP launch in early January and the selection decision expected before summer.
- not confirmed in the source: which specific vendor(s) will win the contract or what architectural model (private, public, hybrid, air‑gapped) Airbus will adopt.
Quick glossary
- Digital sovereignty: Control over data, infrastructure and digital services to ensure they are governed according to a particular jurisdiction’s laws and policy priorities.
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Integrated software systems used to manage core business processes such as finance, procurement, manufacturing and supply chain.
- Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Systems that manage the full lifecycle of a product, including design, engineering, production and maintenance data.
- S/4HANA: SAP’s enterprise resource planning platform that has been developed with a cloud‑first orientation; used here as an example of vendor pressures driving cloud adoption.
Reader FAQ
What applications is Airbus moving to the sovereign cloud?
Airbus is targeting ERP, manufacturing execution systems, CRM and product lifecycle management applications.
When will the procurement process happen and how long might the contract last?
The RFP is due to launch in early January, with a decision expected before summer; the contract could run up to ten years.
How much is the contract worth?
The deal is understood to exceed €50 million.
Has Airbus chosen a provider yet?
not confirmed in the source
Why is Airbus pursuing a European sovereign cloud?
Airbus cites the sensitivity of some information from national and European perspectives, concerns about extraterritorial laws and a desire for greater control over data and services.
PAAS + IAAS 70 Airbus to migrate critical apps to a sovereign Euro cloud Tech exec admits not dead cert it'll find the right solution Paul Kunert Fri 19 Dec 2025 // 11:49 UTC…
Sources
- Airbus to migrate critical apps to a sovereign Euro cloud
- Europe's biggest aerospace company Airbus wants to …
- Airbus prepares tender for European sovereign cloud
Related posts
- Europe doubles down on cutting digital ties to US cloud giants
- Python 3.14 Released With Optional Free-Threading and Experimental JIT
- Meta transfers React, React Native and JSX to Linux Foundation React Foundation