Not too late for EU to compete in cloud computing, says Scaleway chief

13 Jan 2026 | Viewpoint

European cloud providers can serve huge future demand for AI, says Damien Lucas, as EU prepares legislation to reduce dependencies

Damien Lucas, chief executive of French cloud provider Scaleway. Photo credits: Scaleway

The race to develop cloud computing technologies is not completely lost to US giants, but Europe has to start prioritising its own companies if it wants to stay in the game, according to Damien Lucas, chief executive of French cloud provider Scaleway.

“I strongly believe that it is not too late for Europe to be part of the cloud,” Lucas told Science|Business during the AI-Pulse event organised by Scaleway in Paris on December 4.

Cloud computing is essential to the deployment of artificial intelligence and other technologies that require large amounts of data to be processed. But Mario Draghi’s 2024 report on EU competitiveness warned of Europe’s “massive” dependence on cloud services developed and run by US companies. Amazon, Microsoft and Google together have captured 65% of the EU cloud market.

According to Draghi, it is too late for the EU to develop systematic…