A new analysis by the cloud computing consultancy, Colibri Digital, has confirmed what many technologists have long suspected: many European countries are falling behind in their adoption of cloud computing, and that widening gap poses an issue when it comes to AI readiness.
Colibri Digital’s analysis, which was based on data drawn from Eurostat’s recently published survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises, shows Finland at the top of the European cloud adoption league with 79.21 per cent adoption. Italy (75.60 per cent), Malta (74.87 per cent), Ireland (73.04 per cent), and Sweden (72.00 per cent) also rank among the leading cloud computing markets.
Bulgaria, with just 17.83 per cent adoption, sits at the foot of the table, ahead of Greece (24.33 per cent) and Romania (24.94 per cent).
Company size is a major determinant of whether a business has moved to the cloud. Large enterprises record an 84.67 per cent adoption rate across Europe. For medium-sized businesses the figure is 66.78 per cent, while small businesses are split almost exactly down the middle, with just 49.30 per cent using paid cloud services. That leaves the majority of Europe’s smaller companies yet to make the transition.
Ben Wheeler, Head of Cloud Engineering at Colibri Digital, said:
“These numbers show us that Europe’s digital transformation story has two very different (and conflicting) narratives. You’ve got a cluster of countries where cloud computing is now the default infrastructure for business operations… and then you’ve got a large part of the continent where businesses are still mostly making do without it. While we refer to that as a cloud computing divide, it’s increasingly going to become a productivity divide, a competitiveness divide, and an AI-readiness divide. You can’t run production-grade AI on infrastructure that was designed for a pre-cloud world.”
Eurostat’s figures also reveal considerable variation in how businesses are using the cloud, not just whether they have adopted it. Among those using paid cloud services, 77.53 per cent are purchasing sophisticated offerings including PaaS, database hosting, and cloud security, while just over 10 per cent remain reliant on basic services such as email and storage.
Finland again leads on cloud maturity, with 65.90 per cent of businesses in the country using sophisticated cloud services. Denmark (64.98 per cent), the Netherlands (62.00 per cent), and Italy (61.90 per cent) form a strong cluster behind the Nordic leader. At the other end, Bulgaria (13.91 per cent), Greece (18.53 per cent), and Latvia (26.12 per cent) have much ground to cover.
Wheeler added:
“If you’re a business leader looking at your AI strategy in 2026 and you haven’t sorted out your cloud infrastructure, you’re starting at the wrong place. The businesses we work with that get the most from AI investments aren’t necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated models. They’re the ones with clean, accessible data underpinned by resilient cloud architecture. It’s the foundation that determines what’s possible above it.”
