France swaps Microsoft for Iliad's Scaleway to repatriate health data hub

Published: 2026-04-23 08:25:51 ET MSFT

Published on 04/23/2026 at 08:25 am EDT

April 23 (Reuters) - France has chosen domestic cloud provider Scaleway, a subsidiary of Iliad, to host the country's Health Data Hub, replacing Microsoft Azure in a long-contested arrangement, Scaleway said on Thursday.

The contract adds to the French company's broader European momentum. Earlier in April, the European Commission awarded a 180 million euro ($210 million) cloud tender to Scaleway, Post Telecom, OVHcloud and STACKIT.

The French government had originally chosen Microsoft Azure to host the platform, a decision that drew sustained legal and political scrutiny. Microsoft's own representatives admitted before a French Senate inquiry that they could not oppose a U.S. injunction targeting French citizens' data, even if it was hosted in France.

A follow-up law passed in 2024 mandates that sensitive data be hosted on sovereign-guaranteed infrastructure, effectively excluding providers subject to the U.S. Cloud Act.

Scaleway, evaluated for more than 350 technical criteria, was designated as the hub's future host, tasked with securing health records covering tens of millions of French citizens.

($1 = 0.8553 euros)

(Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)