New Study: Over 74% of Europe’s publicly listed companies still route their email (and cloud) through US tech.

Reddit

For decades, European firms have leaned on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 rather than home-grown tools. Our new Europe Tech Sovereignty Watch study maps just how deep that dependency goes — and it should concern anyone focused on EU privacy, security, or innovation.

Key findings

• 74% of all publicly listed European companies run core services on Google or Microsoft. Several sectors/countries hit 100% reliance.
• Email is the gateway: pick a US mail suite and you usually adopt its entire stack (storage, IAM, security, analytics).
• Because both vendors are US entities, the CLOUD Act can compel hand-over even when the server sits in Frankfurt or Dublin.

74% of all publicly listed European companies run critical services (starting with email) on Google or Microsoft. In some sectors and countries, reliance hits 100%.

• 🇫🇷 France: 61% of companies rely on US providers. For utilities, it’s 87%.
• 🇬🇧 UK: 75% of companies depend on US tech for their email and communications.
• 🇪🇸 Spain: 65% of companies rely on US services, including five sectors at 100%.
• 🇵🇹 Portugal: 65% of businesses use US providers. In nine sectors, that figure is 100%
• 🇮🇪 Ireland: In 11 sectors, 100% of large companies use US-based tech.

Why it matters

• Company comms may feed foreign AI training sets.
• EU data is vulnerable to US surveillance and extraterritorial subpoenas.
• Critical infrastructure (utilities, transport, telecom) becomes a geopolitical pressure point.
• Dependence fuels brain drain and suppresses European innovation.