EIB supports the growth of European cloud leader OVHcloud with a €200 million loan for investments in Europe

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted OVHcloud, the European leader in cloud computing, a €200 million credit facility devoted to investments in Europe. This funding demonstrates the EIB's desire to actively support European digital players, and is in line with the European Union’s priority of strategic autonomy in new technologies.

Financial resources for a key sector

The credit facility is the Bank’s first financing operation for a pure cloud player, and will support the expansion of OVHcloud in Europe, where the group is positioning itself as the champion of users’ data sovereignty in an open, reversible, transparent and federated cloud ecosystem. OVHcloud plans to accelerate its international deployment on this booming market by opening 15 new data centres by the end of 2024, connecting with new markets and regions and showcasing its progress in sustainable development. Ten of its 15 new European sites will open in the next 24 months.

The loan is an active contribution to efforts by EU decision-makers to strengthen the strategic autonomy of Europe’s digital infrastructure — especially in the key activities of R&D (research and development) and production — in a market that may outgrow telecoms by 2027.

“Whether in software or hardware, innovation is at the heart of our company’s DNA and guides each and every one of our actions in a sustainable, open and transparent approach,” said Michel Paulin, CEO of OVHcloud. “This additional financial capacity provided by the EIB contributes to our group’s strategic roadmap and will enable us to promote a cloud marked by faster, higher and stronger respect for our European values.”

The cloud is the essential building block for the digitalisation of all aspects of our economic and social lives,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “By contributing to the financing of the most innovative players in Europe, the EIB is fully in line with European policy priorities: increasing our competitiveness and fostering our technological sovereignty. This €200 million loan to the European leader in the sector is a significant demonstration of Europe’s commitment to placing our digital expertise at the service of our strategic autonomy.”

Infrastructure, technology, talent and R&D 

Over the last 12 months, OVHcloud has expanded its portfolio of IaaS and PaaS solutions, confirming its undisputed market leadership in reliable and sustainable cloud services. The group’s accelerated growth goes hand in hand with its rollout of new offers that can meet even the most demanding technological challenges. OVHcloud plans to take its technical capabilities even further in the areas of artificial intelligence, databases, security mechanisms and high-intensity calculations.

The new resources at OVHcloud’s disposal will increase its capacities in the following areas:

• Acceleration of R&D trajectory and industrial model: development of high-density solutions, deployment of new generations of server racks and modernisation of production areas.
• Development of software projects: extension of the product portfolio, starting with the storage offer, security solutions and the integration of new technological building blocks.
• Sustaining the patent policy: OVHcloud already holds 137 patents in many different fields, and will intensify this strategy to consolidate its unique position as an innovative player.

Deployment of the market’s most sustainable cloud infrastructure

As a leading pioneer serving a sustainable cloud, OVHcloud intends to leverage this funding for new and improved cooling technologies, particularly adiabatic systems and new mechanisms in line with its industrial innovations.

Via its fully integrated industrial model, the group can efficiently employ its 20+ years of experience in water-cooling systems to reduce its environmental impact.

OVHcloud currently achieves the cloud industry’s best ratios in energy efficiency (PUE between 1.1 and 1.3, compared to an industry average of 1.57) and water consumption (average WUE of 0.26 l/kWh, compared to an industry average of 1.8). It is thus ideally positioned to embrace strong commitments:

• 100% low-carbon energy by 2025 to limit the use of high-carbon energy by promoting renewable energy and other low-carbon energy sources.
• Contribution to Global Net-Zero for scopes 1 and 2 by 2025, with scopes 1 and 2 representing almost 40% of OVHcloud’s carbon footprint.
• Contribution to Global Net-Zero for all scopes by 2030, with scope 3 largely pertaining to component manufacturing.
• 0% landfill by 2025 for waste related to OVHcloud’s processes at the constant geographical scope.

Background information

About the European Investment Bank

The EIB, whose shareholders are the 27 Member States of the European Union, is the EU’s long-term financing institution. It finances high-quality investments that contribute to achieving the European Union’s objectives, including innovation, for which it earmarked more than €3 billion in 2021. Since 2019, the EIB has accelerated its transformation into a climate bank by committing to devote at least 50% of its financing to investments that help fight climate change and mitigate its effects, starting in 2025. It has already largely achieved this objective in France, where it has invested €9.2 billion, two-thirds of which have been invested in renewable energy, energy efficiency in buildings and sustainable mobility.

About OVHcloud

OVHcloud is a global player and the leading European cloud provider. It operates over 450 000 servers at 33 data centres across four continents, reaching 1.6 million customers in more than 140 countries. Spearheading a trusted cloud and pioneering a sustainable cloud with the best price-performance ratio, the group has successfully leveraged its integrated model for more than two decades. In this way it has kept total control of its value chain, from server design to data centre construction and management, including the orchestration of its fibre-optic network. Thanks to this unique approach, OVHcloud can independently cover all use cases, providing customers with an environmentally conscious model characterised by frugal use of resources and a carbon footprint with the best ratios in the industry. OVHcloud now offers customers the latest-generation solutions, combining performance, predictable pricing and complete data sovereignty to support their rapid growth.