In recent years, the rapid consolidation of the global digital infrastructure has turned cloud computing into a strategic node of geopolitical competition. The large hyperscale data centers, predominantly operated by US and Chinese providers, now form the backbone of our digital economy, with direct consequences for technological sovereignty, security, and the growth prospects of European enterprises.

The goal of the meeting is to understand how the rise of the “cloud empires” is reshaping global economic and political balances, and what implications this phenomenon holds for the strategies of European companies. The discussion will be led by Vili Lehdonvirta, Senior Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute and author of Cloud Empires, one of the leading international experts in digital economy and platform governance.

The session will focus on:

• the invisible revolution: the geographies of the physical infrastructure underpinning the digital economy, to understand where the cloud truly “lives”
• sovereignty vs. scale: the strategic trade-off shaping digital infrastructure, between the advantages of large global providers and the pursuit of european autonomy
• cloud and geopolitics: how international events and tensions between the U.S. and China shape digital infrastructure, with a focus on the risks and opportunities they create for European businesses
• strategic awareness: three key questions every SME should ask about its digital ecosystem.