Global Data Sovereignty Report 2026
Data Sovereignty: Risk, Control,
and Strategic Choice
and Strategic Choice
An effective sovereignty strategy means knowing where greater control matters most. The findings below draw on research from Everpure™ and Vanson Bourne across 2,100 enterprises in eight markets.
90
%
consider it a business concern.
64
%
have no formal sovereignty strategy.
62
%
lack full visibility into who can access, control, and manage their data.
That starts with knowing where data resides, who controls it, and where exposure is greatest.
1Section
Cybersecurity, regulation, and AI lead the agenda
Organizations cite the following factors as drivers of their data sovereignty measures.
47
%
Cybersecurity risks.
39
%
Regulatory and compliance requirements.
34
%
AI adoption and new initiatives.
These priorities are driving action, but they represent only part of the sovereignty risk landscape.
2SectionSovereignty risks receiving less attention
56
%
have no mitigation strategy for geopolitical data exfiltration or service disruption.
26
%
identify service disruption from global political uncertainty or economic policy.
9
%
prioritize protection against foreign government data requests.
9
%
prioritize reducing overseas technology provider concentration risk.
The priorities driving sovereignty strategies don't always align with the risks enterprises face.
3Section
Sovereignty is reshaping
technology decisions
technology decisions
80
%
say sovereignty has become more important in vendor selection and RFPs over the past year.
85
%
would trade advanced features and functionality for a sovereign cloud provider.
Control capability
The decision is where that trade‑off makes business sense.
Greater control where there’s risk. Speed, scale and innovation of global providers where possible.
4Section
Sovereignty is reshaping AI strategy
CONTROL
92
%
see data sovereignty as critical to their AI strategy.
87
%
will prioritize local or sovereign environments for high-risk or sensitive AI workloads in the next 1–3 years.
39
%
say sovereign AI adds operational complexity.
CAPABILITY
COMPLEXITY
Organizations need greater control over sensitive AI workloads while maintaining the capability and scale required to innovate.
5Section
Making sovereignty operational
Execution depends on the capabilities, governance, and enterprise alignment to put sovereignty into practice.
56
%
lack the internal skills and capacity
to deliver data sovereignty initiatives.
to deliver data sovereignty initiatives.
57
%
struggle to balance sovereignty with
wider strategic priorities.
wider strategic priorities.
Match control to risk
Sovereignty should not be a barrier to innovation. Different data and workloads carry different levels of risk. The level of control should reflect them.
CONTROLCAPABILITYSovereignty by design
Sovereignty by design is a business-driven, risk-aware framework where sovereignty controls and governance are applied according to the risk of each data set, application, and workload.