What sovereign cloud means

Sovereign cloud is AI and cloud infrastructure that a nation, and the organizations it trusts, can fully control. In a conventional public cloud, data, models and operations can ultimately be subject to foreign jurisdiction, foreign-controlled operators or a single vendor’s technology. A sovereign cloud keeps every critical layer secure under local law and local control:

• Sovereign infrastructure: the land, power, buildings and compute are located in-country and owned or controlled by domestic or trusted partners.
• Data sovereignty: data is stored and processed within national borders, governed by local law and protected from extraterritorial access.
• Operational sovereignty: the platform is run, monitored and supported by trusted local teams, and can operate in private cloud, on-premises or fully air-gapped environments.
• Technology sovereignty: governments and enterprises control the software stack, models and security, without lock-in to any single foreign provider or hardware vendor.

Sovereign AI applies these principles across the full AI lifecycle, from GPU orchestration and model training to the AI applications and agents that power public services, critical national infrastructure, defence, healthcare, finance and industry.

A large and growing opportunity

Demand for sovereign AI capacity is accelerating rapidly at a time when sovereigns are realising they have limited excess power for their own sovereign cloud needs, let alone to allocate to hyperscalers and AI companies. Governments are moving to secure their own compute, and power has become the prerequisite. Without secured, scalable power there can be no sovereign AI, which makes powered land the starting point of every sovereign AI project. In addition, Governments need development partners to deliver the AI infrastructure and they need a technology and orchestration partner to deliver the sovereign cloud.  Against this backdrop, VivoPower and Open Innovation AI see an initial opportunity of more than 40GW in Europe alone and will target at least 1GW of capacity over the next three years, with further demand across the GCC and Asia. Through VivoPower’s existing assets, Nordic pipeline and sovereign relationships, together with OI’s track record of orchestration sovereign cloud solutions, the Partnership will seek to become the leading AI sovereign solution for governments in the target jurisdictions. 

What the agreement covers

The Agreement sets out the framework for the collaboration. The parties intend to progress individual projects under separate, project-specific agreements, with definitive documentation to follow in due course.

As a first step, VivoPower has partnered with Open Innovation AI to deploy its software solutions, covering orchestration, AI operations and security, across VivoPower’s portfolio and Nordic pipeline.. 

Open Innovation AI’s role builds on the sovereign AI know-how it has developed in the UAE, one of the world’s earliest and most ambitious adopters of sovereign cloud. The company has designed, deployed and operated AI labs and platforms for government and enterprise environments where local control, security and operational governance are critical. That experience gives the partnership a practical foundation to support projects across the targeted jurisdictions.

A natural fit of ambitions

The partnership is also a natural fit of ambitions. VivoPower is pursuing large-scale growth as a global developer of AI-ready power and data center infrastructure for sovereigns. Open Innovation AI is expanding its orchestration and security platform well beyond the UAE into international markets. Together, the companies intend to combine powered infrastructure with the software layer required to run AI safely, efficiently and under full sovereign control.

The aim is simple: give nations and enterprises a faster path from powered land to production-ready AI capacity that remains secure, governed and locally controlled. This in turn will drive sovereign prosperity and national security.

Why the partnership is positioned to win

Today, most governments building sovereign AI capacity must bring together power developers, builders, hardware suppliers, cloud providers and software vendors themselves, and often still depend on foreign hyperscalers for the critical software layer. The US cloud act means European sovereigns in particular need a neutral solution and those developed in Abu Dhabi are some of the most advanced in the world. VivoPower and Open Innovation AI offer a different model:

• One partner from site to service: a single, integrated offering that covers powered land, data center development and operations, and the orchestration, AI operations and security platform, with clear accountability from day one.
• Power where it is scarcest: access to power is now the main constraint on new AI capacity. VivoPower brings powered land and data center infrastructure across Norway, Finland and the UAE, and a pipeline of sites with access to low-cost power.
• A proven sovereign platform: Open Innovation AI has designed, deployed and operated its platform for government critical infrastructure and enterprise environments in the UAE, where local control, security and governance are essential.
• Independent and hardware-agnostic: the Sovereign AI Fabric runs across private cloud, on-premises and air-gapped environments and is not tied to any single hardware vendor or hyperscaler, so nations keep control of their technology choices.
• Faster time to production: pairing ready sites with a pre-integrated software stack shortens the path from energized site to production-ready AI capacity.
• Security by design: cyber security and governance are embedded from facility design through to the AI models and agents running on the platform.

A partnership across four regions

VivoPower and Open Innovation AI will focus on four regions where demand for sovereign AI capacity is accelerating:

• The Nordics: building on VivoPower’s existing asset in Mo i Rana, Norway and its proprietary pipeline across the Nordics.  
• The GCC: building on Open Innovation AI’s home base in the UAE and VivoPower’s regional presence in Abu Dhabi to support national AI strategies across the Gulf and wider region.
• Mainland Europe: helping European governments and industry meet growing requirements for AI capacity, cyber security, data sovereignty and operational control under European governance.
• Selective Asian Countries: serving fast-growing markets investing in domestic AI capability, cyber-resilient infrastructure and strategic digital independence, in jurisdictions that are supportive of AI infrastructure development and where VivoPower has a sourcing advantage through low-cost power.