Two of Europe's heavyweight technology groups are joining forces to build an AI stack that never leaves European jurisdiction. Bull, the French high-performance computing specialist, and Schwarz Digits, the IT and digital division of the Schwarz Group — the family-owned giant behind Lidl and Kaufland — announced a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to build an independent, secure European AI and cloud infrastructure ecosystem, spanning everything from servers to software platforms and appliance environments.
The partnership, announced jointly from Paris and Berlin, is aimed squarely at European organizations in regulated and strategic sectors — think healthcare, finance, defense-adjacent industry, and public administration — that want to develop and scale AI while keeping sensitive data, infrastructure, and operations under European control. For those customers, the pitch is simple: you should not have to route your AI ambitions through American hyperscalers. For more context on this story, see our ongoing breaking AI news.
Building the Physical Foundation in Europe
The plan starts at the hardware layer. Bull will contribute its European manufacturing capabilities, producing rack-scale AI systems at its Angers factory in France, along with its expertise in direct liquid cooling and large-scale AI deployments. Schwarz Digits brings STACKIT, its sovereign cloud platform, which already provides a European digital ecosystem built to German data protection standards.
Together, the companies say the combination provides a foundation for running advanced AI workloads at scale with strong energy efficiency and, crucially, European ownership of the entire chain. In a statement, the partners said they plan to develop a dedicated sovereign AI architecture, combining Bull's AI and high-performance computing background with STACKIT's cloud infrastructure.
BullSequana Comes to the STACKIT Marketplace
The first concrete product move is commercial: Bull's BullSequana AI platform will be listed on the STACKIT Marketplace, giving enterprise and public-sector customers access to AI software platforms and solutions under European jurisdiction through what the companies describe as an open and modular environment.
That matters because the software layer — not just the silicon — is where most European sovereignty ambitions have stalled. The companies argue that European-designed software capabilities are a critical part of the AI stack, helping organizations accelerate adoption while keeping control over their data and technology choices. Demand for sovereign cloud, they note, is growing rapidly, driven by geopolitical developments, regulatory requirements, and the desire of businesses and public authorities for greater digital independence.
What Else Is on the Roadmap
Beyond the initial initiatives, Bull and Schwarz Digits say they intend to co-design server solutions based on Open Compute Project (OCP) standards, pooling their infrastructure and engineering expertise. The collaboration also lists a set of downstream milestones: SAP RISE integration for enterprise customers, large-scale HPC projects, and exploration of quantum computing integration.
Bernie Wagner, chief revenue officer of Schwarz Digits, framed the deal as a rebuttal to the idea that European buyers must trade performance for sovereignty. "European organizations, especially across strategic and regulated industries, cannot afford to choose between cutting-edge computing performance and data sovereignty," Wagner said. "Our alliance with Bull establishes a robust Franco-German foundation for enterprise AI. Through STACKIT, we deliver an open, independent cloud environment that keeps sensitive infrastructure and operational workflows firmly under European governance."
The joint statement added that the partners aim "to give European organisations capabilities they can deploy and control, whether to accelerate AI adoption or scale enterprise computing," describing the alliance as a contribution to "a resilient and competitive European ecosystem."
The alliance pairs two very different kinds of European tech muscle. Schwarz Digits runs the IT infrastructure for the Schwarz Group's own vast retail ecosystem before selling cloud, cybersecurity, data and AI, communication, and workspace services externally, all built to German data protection standards. Bull, meanwhile, has spent decades as Europe's champion of high-performance computing — the niche discipline of building the fastest machines on the planet for research institutions and national programs — and says it generates roughly €720 million in annual revenue with 3,000 professionals across 32 countries, backed by 1,600 patents and a portfolio spanning high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies.
Part of a Larger European Play
The announcement fits into a broader European push to close the infrastructure gap with the United States and China. The EU has backed plans for AI gigafactories across the continent, and a wave of sovereign cloud and sovereign AI initiatives — from national cloud alliances to European model builders — has gained momentum as geopolitics and regulation reshaped procurement decisions.
Whether this alliance can compete on performance remains the open question. American hyperscalers and Chinese AI infrastructure builders operate at a scale that European players have struggled to match, and sovereignty alone has rarely been enough to win enterprise workloads. But the combination of STACKIT's existing cloud business, Bull's manufacturing base, and the political tailwind behind European digital sovereignty gives the partnership a more concrete foundation than most announcements in this space.
The MoU is non-binding by nature, and the companies have not disclosed financial terms or deployment timelines. But with European organizations under growing pressure to justify where their AI data lives, the Franco-German axis now has a unified offering to sell.
---
Stay Ahead of AIGet the latest AI news, analysis, and breakthroughs — all in one place.
Read more AI news →
