Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) have been warned by a French cloud computing rival that European nations are thinking twice about using U.S. tech following tariff trade tensions.
Europe Rethinking Cloud Choices
As reported by Reuters, Benjamin Revcolevschi, chief executive of OVHCloud said global trade tensions are making European companies rethink their choice of cloud provider from a more strategic perspective.
This is in reference to President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy which includes huge hikes on EU imports to the U.S. but also what is being perceived as his lukewarm attitude to the continent. He has decried the EU, thundering that it was established to “screw the U.S.,” as well as undermining its support for Ukraine in the war with Russia and worrying politicians and military leaders about its commitment to NATO.
“In the current geopolitical context, we are seeing a shift in the concerns of private companies and public organizations in Europe. Questions of strategic autonomy are now on CEOs’ agendas,” Revcolevschi said. “The choice of a cloud provider is no longer just a technical matter, but also a strategic issue.”
U.S. Tech Vulnerability
OVHCloud is a data center provider operating 43 facilities across four continents and is clearly a rival of the U.S. tech stalwarts. It is natural that it would look to raise concerns to tempt more companies, intent on using data centers and cloud computing to power the AI revolution, to use its tech instead.
But it does show how vulnerable previously dominant U.S. tech firms are to the current political environment and the push towards more strategic and digital independence in Europe. That can be seen in the number of antitrust cases being launched in Europe against U.S. tech and more calls for the development of European tech to keep pace and compete.
The news did little to damage U.S. tech stocks with MSFT up 0.75% in pre-market trading, GOOGL up over 1% and Amazon up 1.2%.
What are the Best AI Stocks to Buy?
We have rounded up the best AI stocks to invest in using our TipRanks Comparison tool.
