“UK hosted” usually means that data is stored in a UK datacentre. It does not necessarily mean the platform is operated from the UK, or that it falls entirely under UK jurisdiction.

Digital sovereignty is often discussed at a policy level. In practice, it comes down to how your infrastructure is set up, who operates it, and which legal frameworks apply.

AWS is widely used and, for many environments, it works well.

For teams looking at alternatives to AWS in the UK, the conversation usually starts when trade-offs around cost, complexity, and control become more visible.

On 3 June 2026, the European Commission proposed the European Tech Sovereignty Package, and in doing so dragged cloud sovereignty out of policy circles and into the boardroom. The package itself is sprawling industrial policy: chips, AI, cloud, open source, and energy.

Digital sovereignty is now part of how digital infrastructure is designed and operated across Europe and the UK.

Data residency, data sovereignty, and digital sovereignty are often used interchangeably, but they describe different parts of how your infrastructure is actually set up.