Irish organisations are accelerating efforts to secure greater control over technology and data, according to a new Accenture report. Sovereign AI: Own Your AI Future, surveyed nearly 2,000 organisations across 28 countries and 18 industries, and reveals that 72% of Irish businesses are pursuing sovereign solutions—10 percentage points higher than the European average of 62%.
Sovereign AI refers to the ability of a country to develop and deploy AI using local infrastructure, data, models and talent to protect data from foreign access, bolster competitiveness and decrease reliance on overseas technology providers.
Key findings from the report include:
54% of Irish organisations plan to increase investment in sovereignty measures—covering cloud, AI, data and security—within the next two years.
Almost half (48%) are considering or evaluating sovereign cloud investments, significantly ahead of Europe (33%) and global peers (35%).
46% cite national security or industry-specific requirements as their top reason for pursuing sovereign AI, compared to 32% in Europe and 27% globally.
86% view sovereign AI as critical for compliance, trust and resilience—well above the European average of 75%.
Irish organisations are seeking a balanced approach: combining local sovereignty with global innovation. While 42% are considering local providers (versus 26% in Europe), 72% acknowledge that global technology partnerships remain essential for competitiveness. Trust in global providers could be strengthened by local infrastructure and transparency, however. 76% say having data centres built in the country or region where their organisation is headquartered would increase trust and 72% say transparency into how and where data is accessed, stored and governed would do the same.
Austin Boyle, Head of Technology, Accenture in Ireland, commented on the findings: “Irish organisations are ahead of their European peers in making sovereignty a strategic priority. Security is clearly driving this shift, with 46% citing national security as their top reason, and 86% viewing sovereign AI as critical for compliance and trust. By embedding sovereign AI and cloud into their strategies now, Irish businesses can transform security from a defensive measure into a source of resilience, trust and competitive advantage.”
Accenture recommends four actions to maximise opportunities from sovereign AI:
CEO Ownership: Sovereign AI must be a CEO-led priority, aligning AI strategy with enterprise risk, growth and geopolitical realities for maximum impact.
Reframe Sovereignty: Organisations should shift from viewing sovereignty as mere risk mitigation to leveraging it as a source of value creation and competitive advantage.
Expand Your Ecosystem: Companies should build hybrid ecosystems that combine local trust with global innovation, tailoring sovereignty measures to where they matter most.
Redefine Architecture: Firms need to architect AI across a multi-cloud continuum, embedding sovereignty into every layer – data, infrastructure, models and applications – for resilience and adaptability.
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