Europe’s sovereign-cloud champion is shifting from heavy build-out to cash-flow “harvest”—but must outrun hyperscalers’ software and “sovereignty-washing.”
Overview
OVH Groupe (OVHcloud) is positioned as Europe’s primary scaled alternative to US cloud hyperscalers, differentiated by data sovereignty, transparent pricing, and a vertically integrated “industrial model.” Founded in 1999 in France, it operates 46 data centers across four continents (early 2026) and serves 1.6M+ customers spanning SMBs, “Scalers,” large enterprises, and public sector/regulatory-sensitive organizations. Revenue is organized into Private Cloud (60.6% of H1 FY2026 revenue; the financial bedrock via bare metal and hosted private cloud), Public Cloud (21.4%; the growth engine built on open standards), and Web Cloud & Other (18.0%; domains/hosting/legacy connectivity that also functions as a funnel). France remains the core geography (48% of revenue), with Europe ex-France at 29% and Rest of World at 23%; the US is showing strong momentum (20%+ CAGR over 2023–2025). OVHcloud’s sovereign positioning is underpinned by certifications like SecNumCloud and C5, and its integrated manufacturing/cooling enables a 30–70% price-performance edge versus hyperscalers in certain workloads, making it a key beneficiary of Europe’s accelerating sovereign cloud spend—provided it can continue moving up the software stack.