While most executives view AI sovereignty as a strategic imperative, many lack understanding of the infrastructure underpinning their systems.
June 16, 2026
A new study from IBM found that while digital sovereignty is becoming a priority for businesses across EMEA, many are locked into AI systems they struggle to understand or control.
According to the report, 90% of EMEA executives surveyed do not fully understand their organization’s dependencies across AI vendors, models and infrastructure. At the same time, nearly three-quarters said switching their primary AI vendor or model would be difficult.
The combination of vendor lock-in and limited visibility can lead to significant financial and operational risk, with 81% of respondents saying a seven-day outage at a primary AI provider would have a “severe or critical” impact on their organization.
