When the European Commission projected that 91% of enterprise workloads would migrate to cloud by 2028, it signalled a continent ready to move at scale. The more interesting question, the one drawing together cloud architects, cybersecurity leaders and enterprise buyers at GITEX AI EUROPE in Berlin this year – is not whether enterprises should migrate, but how to build autonomy, and on what terms. GITEX AI EUROPE takes place from 30 June – 1 July 2026 at Messe Berlin, bringing more than 800 enterprises and startups, 500 investors and 120 speakers from over 100 countries, marking one of the most concentrated international tech participations seen in Berlin. Organised by inD, global organisers of GITEX – one of the world’s largest tech and AI show, and supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, and Berlin Partner for Business and Technology, the event arrives at a defining moment for Europe’s digital infrastructure ambitions, with sovereignty at the centre of the business and policy conversations. Ownership, not geography The common misconception is that storing data in a European server means it is protected under European law. According to Dr. Andreas Nauerz, the chief product officer at IONOS – one of Europe’s largest cloud and hosting providers – sovereignty is determined not just by the physical location of a data centre, but by who owns the provider, and where the company is headquartered. Global providers may operate infrastructure inside Europe, but can still be subject to their headquarters’ legislation, creating a tension with GDPR that no contractual arrangement can resolve. “Sovereignty goes beyond GDPR conformity: it requires technological control over the cloud stack, open standards and genuine interoperability,” Dr. Nauerz pointed out. The argument lands hardest in regulated sectors, like financial services under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA),