New research has revealed that more than 60% of UK IT tech leaders now feel that the government’s use of US cloud services exposes the country’s digital economy to significant risks, damages its domestic industry and threatens data security.
The survey, compiled by cloud computing firm Civo, received responses from over 1,000 UK-based IT leaders who revealed a surge in interest in data sovereignty among UK IT leaders since the implementation of the US’ raft of tariffs in April.
Nearly half of those surveyed (45%) are already actively considering repatriating from the cloud, and 40% say that transparency and greater compliance with EU and UK data protection regulations would make them more likely to move away from US providers.
After a period of rapid AI adoption, many organisations are assessing how this is impacting their data strategy. Over two-thirds of respondents said they would only agree to use AI if they had absolute certainty that they owned all inputs and outputs.
This is a level of visibility and control not offered by the majority of the largest providers.
This tallies with what appear to be a broader erosion of trust in the largest providers, with only 37% saying they trust big tech AI providers to handle their data.
Civo’s research revealed that after market reputation, data sovereignty now ranks as the second most prominent factor encouraging businesses to move away from big tech AI services, ahead of price, breadth of services, and team experience.
“These results will be no surprise to anyone with their ear to the ground in the industry,” said Mark Boost, chief executive of Civo.
“The market is crying out for greater visibility over where data is stored, used, and transferred, and at present, US providers are failing to meet that demand.
“Legislation such as the CLOUD Act means that at any time, providers based in the US may have to share users’ data, regardless of where in the world that user is based or where their data is stored.
“This prevents US providers from offering users full control, and when it comes to government data, anything less than full sovereignty represents a significant risk.
“It’s time for the UK to match the energy of European sovereignty initiatives like EuroStack to help reduce reliance on hyperscale providers whilst still encouraging transatlantic collaboration.”
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