The move by Iliad in Poland demonstrates the company is serious about creating sovereign AI services for Europe outside the US hyperscalers
Iliad CEO Thomas Reynaud is making good his push to create a new sovereign “made in Europe” competitor to the US hyperscalers as its group companies, Polish operator Play and cloud services specialist Scaleway announced a strategic partnership. As a result of the partnership, customers of Play Business Solutions (including companies, corporations and public institutions) will gain access to “one of the most comprehensive portfolios of advanced tools developed in Europe”.
Last month, the Iliad Group and InfraVia closed the transaction aimed at developing OpCore into a major European hyperscale data center platform by developing new 100 MW+ data centres in France and Europe with several construction projects already underway.
With the new partnership, Play Business Solutions customers will benefit from the fact that Scaleway’s infrastructure is entirely based in Europe, ensuring compliance with local regulations and full alignment with digital sovereignty requirements. Strengthening its ecosystem of cloud and AI solutions, the Iliad Group – which recently announced a €3 billion investment in AI – offers enterprises a way to reduce dependence on non-European providers and protect their technological autonomy.
Scaleway has invested heavily in this area and now offers capacity of 5,000 GPUs. This will enable Play to provide businesses and institutions with high-performance infrastructure for AI model training, available on demand. And thanks Play Business Solutions, companies and institutions will now have access to hybrid cloud solutions and AI and data processing tools, including on-demand GPU servers located in data centres in Warsaw and Paris, as well as model-as-a-service tools that simplify AI model deployment.
European answer to US question
The company is not mining words stating that the aim of the Play–Scaleway partnership is to offer Polish businesses a “competitive and trustworthy alternative to American and Asian solutions”. Growing geopolitical tensions are driving demand for European-developed technologies as alternatives to American and Asian offerings.
“Play is known for providing top-class mobile and home services to individual customers, but in recent years we’ve rapidly expanded in the B2B segment. Under the Play Business Solutions brand, we now serve more than half of the 100 largest private companies in Poland – and that’s just the beginning,” said Play CEO Ken Campbell (above, left).
“By expanding our offering with advanced cloud and AI capabilities, developed in collaboration with Scaleway and more broadly with the Iliad Group, we’re taking a bold step forward. This partnership enables us to deliver secure, efficient European digital infrastructure that allows businesses and institutions to innovate faster, scale smarter, and lead with confidence in a digital-first world. This makes our offering the most comprehensive on the market,” he added.
“The urgent need for a credible and competitive European alternative in cloud computing has never been greater. Too often, national initiatives fragment our strengths instead of uniting them around truly scalable, sovereign solutions. Through this partnership, we’re calling for a change of course – the creation of a pan-European industrial strategy that supports an open, sovereign, and efficient cloud, built on transparency, interoperability and trust,” said Scaleway CEO Damien Lucas (above, right).
“Together with Play and the Iliad Group, we aim to offer European businesses secure, cost-effective infrastructure that empowers them to scale, innovate, and lead confidently in the AI era,” he added.
“At the Iliad Group, we’ve long believed that AI and cloud technologies will define the next chapter of Europe’s digital transformation. That’s why we’re investing intensively across the entire AI value chain – from data centres to open-source research,” said Iliad Group and CEO Thomas Reynaud. “The partnership between Play and Scaleway perfectly reflects our ambition to democratise access to advanced, secure and sovereign digital infrastructure tailored to the needs of European businesses.”
