Cloud Costs Under Pressure? Why Sovereignty at T-Systems Doesn't Come at a Premium

We're currently seeing several factors converging. On the one hand, requirements around data protection, compliance, and digital sovereignty are increasing – this raises the level of effort for providers. On the other hand – and this is often underestimated – hardware costs have also risen significantly. New chip generations, supply chains, energy prices, and investments in more powerful data centers are driving infrastructure costs upward.

Many providers pass these costs directly on to their customers. That's why we're currently seeing price adjustments among many European cloud providers. And international hyperscalers are also charging significant premiums for sovereign cloud variants.

For companies, this often means rising bills alongside reduced predictability.

We are deliberately taking a different approach. For us, sovereignty is not a premium feature, but a fundamental part of our offering.

This means our customers do not pay extra for European data residency or compliance. And although we are, of course, also facing rising hardware costs, we focus specifically on efficiency gains instead of simply passing them on.

With T Cloud Public – still known to many as the Open Telekom Cloud – we offer a combination of cost efficiency, performance, and "sovereignty by design."

At the same time, we provide our customers with a leading European hyperscaler alternative featuring one of the most powerful service portfolios on the market – with the clear goal of achieving full core feature parity with international hyperscalers by the end of the year.

We are indeed seeing a very clear shift in the market. Many companies are facing unexpected price increases in VMware environments and are actively searching for economically viable alternatives. 

As a result, we are seeing a noticeable increase in inquiries. Customers want to understand how they can migrate their existing workloads cost-efficiently and with minimal friction to another environment.

With T Cloud Public, we offer an attractive option: an open, standards-based cloud platform that helps reduce dependencies while improving cost control.

What's particularly important is that we don't just provide infrastructure – we actively support our customers throughout the transformation process, from analysis and migration to ongoing operations.

This creates a real alternative that is both economically viable and capable of meeting increasing sovereignty and compliance requirements.

Absolutely. We are investing specifically in technologies that help our customers offset rising infrastructure costs:

Since mid-2025, we've been offering flexible flavors that can reduce computing costs by 30 to 40 percent. 

In addition, we have introduced the latest Intel Xeon generation. The performance gains are so significant that costs can be reduced by up to 50 percent – despite rising hardware costs in the background. Combined with our 3-year reserved models, customers can achieve an additional discount of over 40 percent.

Importantly, these models are permanently available – not just short-term promotions.

We continuously evolve our offering – especially in response to rising infrastructure costs. For example, we are planning to introduce the next generation of flexible CPUs (x2) in the second quarter of 2026, unlocking further efficiency potential.

In addition, we recently introduced Reserved Object Storage. This enables companies to implement backup scenarios – also for hyperscaler workloads – more efficiently and in a sovereign manner. For many customers, this is a first pragmatic step toward greater digital sovereignty and increased resilience.

Both developments are aimed at delivering long-term savings in the double-digit percentage range – transparent, predictable, and without hidden conditions.

Yes, 2026 is a special year for us: T Cloud Public is celebrating its 10th anniversary. To mark the occasion, we've launched a promotion: 10 percent discount on 10 selected services for 10 months. These include:

• Serverless computing
• Security services
• Scalable File Service (NAS)

Our goal is to make it easier for customers to get started with modern, cost-efficient cloud architectures.

At its core, it comes down to three things:

1. Predictability – no unexpected price increases, despite rising market and hardware costs
2. Efficiency – continuous optimization of the cost base
3. Sovereignty – integrated at no additional cost

Our customers get a stable foundation for growth – with enterprise performance, a broad service portfolio, and dedicated support.

Any company looking to actively manage its cloud costs – especially in an environment of rising hardware and infrastructure prices – should take a closer look. It's worth evaluating alternatives that don't simply pass on costs but create real efficiency gains.

A key advantage: sovereignty and compliance are built in from the start – without additional charges or complex add-ons. Companies essentially get an "all-inclusive" solution that meets regulatory requirements while remaining economically viable.

And for newcomers, there's an additional incentive: a €250 voucher to test T Cloud Public with no obligation.