PARIS (Reuters) – French technology firm OVH said on Tuesday it is partnering with Google to build up its capacities in cloud computing, leaning on the U.S. giant’s technology to speed up a push towards developing a European contender in the area.
Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google dominate the field of data storage worldwide, which has fuelled calls from politicians in Europe for homegrown alternatives to rise to the challenge of becoming credible rivals.
Some have positioned the storage of sensitive corporate and state data as a matter of sovereignty and national security.
OVH and Dassault Systemes are two of the companies in France that have been racing to develop their businesses amid warnings from ministers that Europe was already well behind.
OVH said in a statement that its partnership with Google Cloud would allow it to bring some of the U.S. firm’s technology into services which its teams would operate and run in Europe.
“Listening to our customers, partners and policymakers in Europe, we understand their need for even greater control and autonomy,” Google Cloud’s Chief Executive Thomas Kurian said in the same statement.
The two firms did not disclose any financial details.
(Reporting by Sarah White and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by Jan Harvey)
