Alternative AI cloud market strategies Approach Strategy Specialisation Carving out niche markets to differentiate from and complement hyperscaler offerings. Specialisation(sovereign AI) → focussing on AI cloud provision to markets outside the US or China → Often backed by government or regional champions that value independence from hyperscalers(based on regulatory, privacy, data security or geopolitical concerns) Specialisation(niche markets) → focussing on specialised and regulated verticals e. g. healthcare Specialisation(sustainability) → focussing on sustainable infrastructure, often exploiting cooler climate countries e. g. Nordics Upgrading Moving up the value chain; focussing on AI start-ups as their core customer profile, rather than chasing large enterprises; maybe expanding to AI-native enterprises. Upgrading(start-ups/SMEs) → focussing on start-ups and SMEs requiring smaller systems Upgrading(full-stack) → capturing start-up/SME market and upgrade to AI-native enterprises through vertically integrated solutions Consolidation Getting absorbed by hyperscalers, ­telcos or sovereign buyers Marketplace Aggregating demand and supply; carried out by capital-­light companies.* Consolidation(corporations) Consolidation(sovereigns) Marketplace(platform) → Companies that match AI compute owners to buyers. May also provide IaaS infrastructure, but don’t have expertise in deploying compute Marketplace(aggregators) → Companies that create a marketplace for AI compute owners to offer compute to buyers * See Patel& Nishball 2024 Table 3 Illustrative examples Most of the EU providers Genesis Cloud Genesis Cloud, Verda IONOS, Exoscale, Hetzner, Scaleway, Mistral Compute, Vast.AI (as a software partner for other companies) Nscale Verda Vast.ai, Compute Exchange Nvidia(partnerships and the DGX Cloud Lepton program). Together.AI UAE sovereign tech fund MGX, which would be the largest AI cloud available in Europe(Swinhoe 2025).Finally, it recently announced having raised$830 million in debt to finance a new 44 MW data centre near Paris(Mukherjee& Marchandon 2026). Consolidation refers to increasing collaboration with existing industrial companies and sovereign compute projects. For example, NScale announced a strategic partnership with the Finnish networking giant Nokia to develop AI-ready computational infrastructures, with Nokia also participating in the funding round with the company. 14 Similarly, Stargate Norway, a joint venture that aims to deliver 100,000 Nvidia GPUs by the end of 2026 to OpenAI’s first data centre in Europe, will be delivered by Nscale, in close conjunction with the Nor­wegian investment giant Aker, which also took a 9.3 % stake in the company. 15 This consolidation also has a sovereign dimension, with providers supporting the bids for Gigafactories. One example is Verda’s role in the ­Baltic-Polish Gigafactory bid for one of the€5 bn pro ­jects on offer, overseeing the AI Gigafactory’s technical architecture, operational planning, deployment and life­cycle maintenance. 16 14  https://www.nokia.com/newsroom/nokia-and-nscale-partner-to-accelerate-ai-infrastructure-build-out/(last accessed on 23 April 2026). 15  https://news.cision.com/aker-asa/r/aker-finalizes-investment-in-nscale-and-joint-venture-in-narvik,c4246455(last accessed on 23 April 2026. To note, Stargate Norway is a distinct joint venture between Nscale, Aker and OpenAI. It should not be confused with the proposed U.S.-based Stargate supercomputer project between Microsoft and OpenAI; for more see Craske, 2025. 16  https://verda.com/blog/datacrunch-latvian-alliance-submits-proposal-for-eus-ai-gigafactory(last accessed on 23 April 2026). Alternative AI cloud providers and their strategies in the EU market 17