The episode, titled “We no longer pay developers to write code”, is available on the Underscore_ YouTube channel.

From AI experimentation to industrialization

About 18 months ago, Quentin started seriously experimenting with AI agents for software development. Initially skeptical, he gradually found that they could deliver certain developments faster, sometimes with a better implementation than the one he would have written himself.

But one of the main lessons from Clever Cloud’s experience is precisely that simply giving developers access to an AI tool is not enough. Adoption required changing practices, supporting teams, and even giving up on the idea of imposing a single tool: in a market evolving extremely quickly, developers experiment with different solutions and share what they learn.

When AI also transforms software quality

The focus then shifts from simply generating code to everything required to verify, test, and secure it. Unit and integration tests, distributed systems simulation, automated security audits: AI makes it possible to apply much more systematically practices that already existed but whose time cost sometimes limited their use.

At Clever Cloud, every commit in GitLab can be sent through simulation to look for failures, generate a report, and open an issue when a problem is detected. The question is therefore no longer simply, “How much code can AI produce?” but rather, “What organization and engineering pipeline do we need to build to use this capability in production?”

That is precisely what separates one-off experimentation from industrialization.

Rust, legacy, and new software development practices

The episode also explores Rust’s role in this transformation. Quentin explains why the language’s constraints and the precise feedback provided by its compiler create a particularly effective feedback loop with AI agents.

This approach is now part of a much broader project at Clever Cloud: reducing and ultimately eliminating the legacy accumulated since the company was founded more than 15 years ago, progressively rewriting components while preserving architectural decisions and strengthening their validation.

At the time of recording, Quentin still described eliminating legacy as a work in progress. Since then, this Rust rewrite is now nearly complete.

For a tech company of more than 100 people operating critical infrastructure, this goes far beyond a POC: it means fundamentally changing how software is designed, built, tested, and maintained.

What role is left for developers and CIOs?

This transformation ultimately raises a broader question: what happens to the developer’s role when producing code becomes significantly cheaper?

Quentin argues that value is shifting towards specifications, architecture, testing, and the environment in which software is produced. As a developer himself, he explains that it took him several months to come to terms with this shift.

For CIOs, this experience therefore raises the question of how to integrate AI without simply adding another tool to the stack, by rethinking the processes required to capture its benefits without sacrificing quality or security. This is precisely where Quentin believes companies focusing solely on code generation risk missing a large part of the potential gains.

Ultimately, this may be the main takeaway: the most structural gains emerge when AI leads us to fundamentally rethink how software is designed, built, and evolved. For European companies, the challenge is therefore no longer simply to adopt these tools, but to turn them into a genuine industrial capability.

To watch the full conversation between Quentin Adam, Micode, and Matthieu Lambda:

This press kit brings together all the announcements made at ACCES 2025, Clever Cloud’s annual event held during the FOST. It illustrates the company’s ambition to provide a comprehensive, sovereign, high-performance European platform designed for the needs of modern organisations.

1. Beta launch of Clever Kubernetes Engine (CKE)

Clever Cloud announces the opening of Clever Kubernetes Engine (CKE), its managed Kubernetes offering designed to deliver a reliable, sovereign and simplified production experience. CKE is the result of several years of work on infrastructure automation and managed services. The aim is to make Kubernetes accessible to organisations without imposing the operational complexity involved in managing a traditional cluster.

Kubernetes has become an industry standard, but it can also introduce difficulties: control plane management, security, upgrades and monitoring. CKE takes on these responsibilities. The control plane is fully managed, upgrades are transparent, and nodes adjust automatically to demand. This approach allows teams to use Kubernetes as a tool without dealing with its operational constraints — in the Clever Cloud spirit.

CKE stands out thanks to Materia etcd, integrated as the underlying consistency and high-availability layer, replacing traditional etcd. This choice brings resilience, stability and predictable performance. CKE integrates natively with other Clever Cloud services: S3 object storage, databases, Pulsar, Network Groups, IAM, and more. Workloads can be deployed via kubectl, Helm or GitOps, while the infrastructure is operated by Clever Cloud.

With CKE, Clever Cloud strengthens its position as a credible European alternative to Big Tech Kubernetes platforms, in a sovereign, compliant and controlled environment. The offering is aligned with a shared 2026 roadmap.

2. New AI hosting and compute platform (H1 2026)

Clever Cloud announces a new AI platform developed with SpiNNcloud, available in the first half of 2026. This European neuromorphic infrastructure is designed to provide a high-performance, efficient and sovereign environment suitable for training, adaptation and inference of AI models.

SpiNNcloud technology already enables a significant reduction in the cost and energy consumption of AI workloads, with substantial gains expected for future architectures. Hosted and operated by Clever Cloud, the infrastructure guarantees a European framework independent from extra-European providers.

Offered through a flexible model, the platform will allow companies to use the capacity they need with no upfront investment. It integrates with the broader Clever Cloud ecosystem, providing a complete chain from data to model deployment in a coherent, controlled and transparent environment.

3. Materia: major updates for KV and launch of Materia TS (Tech Preview)

Materia, Clever Cloud’s serverless database product line, continues to evolve with significant improvements to Materia KV and the launch of Materia TS in tech preview.

Materia KV: enhancements

Materia KV gains stability, performance and an improved ability to handle substantial workloads, while retaining its serverless principles: strong consistency, high availability and automatic scaling. The new version also introduces KV Explorer, a tool within the Clever Cloud console for visualising, filtering and querying data via a dedicated terminal. These improvements strengthen KV’s use cases for microservices, operational data and distributed architectures.

Materia TS: tech preview launch

At the event, Clever Cloud will present Materia TS, the first engine in the range dedicated to time-series data. Built on technologies from the Warp 10 ecosystem, it is designed for observability, IoT, industrial environments, telemetry and continuous monitoring.

Materia TS enables ingestion, storage and analysis of massive volumes of time-series data thanks to an engine optimised for compression, structuring and time-based analytics. With Materia KV and TS, the Materia range becomes a comprehensive foundation covering several data models (SQL, KV, TS), fully integrated into Clever Cloud automation.

4. Strategic partnership with 2CRSI

Clever Cloud announces a strategic partnership with 2CRSI to develop hardware infrastructures that natively embed Clever Cloud technologies. Bringing together a European high-performance server manufacturer and a sovereign cloud provider, this collaboration aims to produce solutions designed for performance, efficiency and reliability.

The first systems resulting from this partnership will target critical environments — industry, telecoms, sensitive infrastructures — where security, traceability and governance are essential. This initiative extends Clever Cloud’s commitments to an independent and sustainable European infrastructure.

5. New Clever Cloud offering for Industry 4.0: unified Edge & Cloud platform

Clever Cloud introduces its offering dedicated to Industry 4.0, designed for industrial environments requiring security, continuity, low latency and controlled deployment processes. The offering combines on-premise, edge and cloud execution within a unified software framework based on Clever Cloud automation.

At its core, Clever Edge enables the deployment and maintenance of industrial applications close to equipment: production sites, embedded devices, virtualised environments or cloud environments. The platform is based on a Kubernetes distribution capable of running containers, VMs and system processes, with integrated management of networking, storage, updates, security, monitoring and logging.

The offering includes management of air-gapped environments — essential for sectors subject to strict regulatory requirements.

Designed for real-world Industry 4.0 use cases (logistics, industrial IoT, automation, distributed supervision), new customers are already using this offering. It targets manufacturing, logistics, industrial and sensitive sectors seeking resilience, autonomy and sovereignty.

6. Clever Cloud expands its infrastructure with two new data centres in Paris

Clever Cloud expands its infrastructure by opening two new points of presence in the Paris region, at ETIX Paris #3 in Vélizy and Telehouse TH3 in Magny-les-Hameaux, to support the company’s growth and the increasing demand for hosting capacity. First availability is expected in early 2026. With these two sites, Clever Cloud will operate five data centres in Île-de-France.

Clever Cloud selected ETIX for its ISO 27001, HDH and PCI DSS-certified infrastructure, suited to sensitive environments. As a key player in fully sovereign data centres, ETIX relies on a dense national footprint and an energy strategy based on a target PUE of 1.3, along with ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and ASHRAE certifications — aligned with Clever Cloud’s commitments to efficiency and sustainability.

“Our infrastructures are designed to combine high density, energy efficiency and reliability. This approach allows us to support the rise of cloud and artificial intelligence while controlling our environmental impact,” says Louis Blanchot, CEO of ETIX.

The Telehouse TH3 data centre, built on a former military site, provides a high level of availability (99.99% SLA), reinforced physical security and electrical capacities suited to scaling workloads. Already present at TH2, one of France’s main Internet hubs, Clever Cloud extends its connectivity and multi-site resilience with TH3. The site is ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001 and ISO 50001 certified.

7. Grist joins the Clever Cloud marketplace

Grist joins the Clever Cloud marketplace. This modern tool for manipulating and collaborating on tabular data allows teams to build internal applications, tracking dashboards and business workflows quickly. Hosted on Clever Cloud, Grist benefits from a sovereign environment and seamless integration with the platform’s other services.

8. Product updates: FerretDB, Pulsar General Availability & Network Groups

Clever Cloud announces three major product updates:

• FerretDB enhances the managed database offering with an open-source, MongoDB-compatible alternative.
• Apache Pulsar reaches General Availability, providing a mature engine for event-driven architectures and distributed systems.
• Network Groups introduce advanced network segmentation to isolate, organise and secure applications.

These developments strengthen Clever Cloud’s ability to serve as a complete foundation for modern applications requiring performance, security, cost control and strategic autonomy.

Ismaël Faouri, founder and president of Groupe Agel, has been appointed CEO of Clever Cloud Morocco.

This new establishment marks a key milestone in Clever Cloud’s international expansion and a major step in strengthening its presence in Africa.

A local partnership to foster regional growth

Clever Cloud Morocco was born from a collaboration between Clever Cloud and Groupe Agel, a well-established Moroccan IT group with deep roots in the local digital ecosystem. Together, they share a common vision: to co-build local, sustainable cloud solutions that support Morocco’s and the region’s digital transformation.

Ismaël Faouri appointed CEO of Clever Cloud Morocco

To lead this new entity, Ismaël Faouri, CEO of Groupe Agel, takes on the role of CEO of Clever Cloud Morocco.

Ismaël Faouri is the founder and CEO of Groupe Agel, the parent company of Agel Partners — a key consulting and digital services partner supporting both the Moroccan and French economies. Previously, he founded and managed an EdTech company now used by the French Ministry of Education. He brings his expertise and network to drive the growth and deployment of Clever Cloud Morocco, combining local roots, operational performance, and value creation on the Moroccan market, while fostering commercial and technical synergies between Europe and Africa.

Ismaël Faouri embodies the shared ambition of both companies: to build a model of cooperation based on trust, innovation, and local engagement. As CEO, he will lead the regional development strategy, strengthen connections with local ecosystems, and support the growth of Moroccan and North African digital talent.

“Data stays with you — and so does the value. Clever Cloud Morocco stands for a sovereign, high-performance, and secure cloud, hosted and operated locally, in dirhams, to accelerate the entire tech ecosystem.” — Ismaël Faouri, CEO of Clever Cloud Morocco

“Data stays with you — and so does the value. Clever Cloud Morocco stands for a sovereign, high-performance, and secure c loud, hosted and operated locally, in dirhams, to accelerate the entire tech ecosystem.” — Ismaël Faouri, CEO of Clever Cloud Morocco

“We are very proud to announce the appointment of Ismaël Faouri, in whom I have complete trust, as CEO of Clever Cloud Morocco. This partnership with Groupe Agel perfectly illustrates our ambition: to co-build, alongside local actors, a sovereign and sustainable cloud founded on cooperation and tailored to the needs of each territory.” — Quentin Adam, CEO of Clever Cloud

Co-building the cloud of tomorrow

The launch of Clever Cloud Morocco is part of a broader commitment to sharing, co-development, and mutual trust. By combining Clever Cloud’s technology with Groupe Agel’s local expertise, this project aims to build a sovereign, secure, and high-performance cloud rooted in the needs of Moroccan businesses and institutions.

Sovereignty does not depend solely on where data is hosted; it also relies on the jurisdiction of the provider. In other words, data must be hosted in controlled environments and operated by a provider not subject to extraterritorial laws, regardless of where the datacentres are located.

Across this landscape, several European actors offer distinct approaches: developer-oriented PaaS, certified sovereign IaaS, and clouds tailored for sensitive or regulated environments. This article analyses and compares five European platforms, each offering a clear positioning depending on technical and regulatory priorities.

As a result, organisations now have mature options to build and operate their services within a controlled, compliant and sustainable framework, relying on providers operating under a jurisdiction free from extraterritorial constraints.

Key points

• The best sovereign cloud platforms meet two key requirements: controlled data localisation and freedom from extraterritorial legislation.
• The right choice depends on priorities: PaaS automation, IaaS control, sector-specific needs or regulatory constraints.
• European providers offer complementary solutions suited to developers, DevOps teams, CIOs and architects.
• Clever Cloud follows a sovereign, automated and resilient PaaS approach, enhanced by a SecNumCloud zone through its partnership with Cloud Temple.
  

Context: Understanding the challenges of European sovereign clouds

Choosing a sovereign European cloud ensures that data is hosted in environments where both the location and the applicable jurisdiction are under control. Unlike providers subject to extraterritorial laws that may compel access to data even when stored in Europe, providers operating in jurisdictions not exposed to such legislation ensure stronger protection.

This legal independence, combined with controlled localisation, strengthens regulatory compliance, operational predictability and the security of sensitive data. Added to this are technical requirements such as resilience, transparency, local certifications and automation, allowing teams to deploy and operate their services within a controlled, reliable and durable environment.

The 5 best European cloud providers

1. Clever Cloud: sovereign PaaS, fully automated and end-to-end controlled

Clever Cloud is a European PaaS founded in France. The platform automates hosting, deployment and operational maintenance, while ensuring full control of the stack (from the hypervisor to the runtimes) and operating datacentres in Europe or within environments not subject to extraterritorial laws.

Advantages

• Full sovereignty: European jurisdiction, no exposure to the Cloud Act or FISA, guaranteed reversibility.
• Resilience by design: autoscaling, self-healing, daily backups and built-in disaster recovery.
• Structured security: ISO 27001, ISO 9001, HDS, Zero Trust architecture.
  Controlled stack: internal hypervisor and open-source technologies developed by Clever Cloud (Biscuit, Sōzu, Materia).
• Multi-runtime support: Node.js, PHP, Docker, .NET, Go, Python…
• SecNumCloud zone through a partnership with Cloud Temple for workloads requiring this level of assurance.

Limitations

• Non-cloud-native applications may require adjustments (stateless architecture, 12-Factor principles).
• No low-level access to the infrastructure, as a deliberate architectural choice.

Why Clever Cloud stands out

Clever Cloud provides a comprehensive sovereign and automated PaaS, whereas most European providers concentrate primarily on IaaS. Its “resilience by design” approach, combined with full control over the stack, makes it well suited for teams looking for automation without compromising sovereignty.

2. Scaleway: 100% European IaaS / Lightweight PaaS

Scaleway operates 10 datacentres located exclusively in Europe (including four in France), compliant with GDPR and positioned outside the reach of extraterritorial laws.

Advantages

• 100% European cloud with 10 datacentres across Europe.
• ISO 27001:2022 and HDS certifications.
• Strong commitment to data localisation and service sovereignty.
• Compute, bare metal and managed Kubernetes services.

Limitations

• Teams retain extensive control over integration and DevOps tooling, which suits organisations building their own platform but requires more assembly than a turnkey PaaS.
• Primarily IaaS-oriented: the PaaS catalogue is more focused than that of PaaS-first providers.

3. OVHcloud: Broad European IaaS Offering

OVHcloud is a major French player in the European cloud ecosystem. Its portfolio covers a wide range of services: compute, storage, Kubernetes, private cloud and solutions for regulated environments.

Advantages

• ISO 27001 and HDS certifications, GDPR compliance.
• Broad IaaS offering: compute, storage, networking and containerisation.
• Strong presence across multiple European countries.

Limitations

• SecNumCloud qualification currently applies to specific services (e.g., VMware on OVHcloud) rather than the entire catalogue.
• Primarily IaaS-first: automation and PaaS abstractions vary by service and require configuration by in-house teams.
• Some managed services require additional configuration effort.

4. IONOS Cloud: European IaaS with Documented Renewable Energy Commitment

IONOS Cloud is a German provider offering infrastructure services and DevOps tools. The company publicly highlights its use of 100% renewable energy for its European datacentres, a key element for many organisations.

Advantages

• Datacentres under European jurisdiction (Germany, Europe), GDPR compliant.
• Official commitment to 100% renewable energy for infrastructure.
• Integrated DevOps tools such as the Data Center Designer for modelling cloud architectures.
• Strong price/performance ratio in several independent benchmarks.

Limitations

• Primarily IaaS-oriented: the PaaS offering is more limited than that of specialised managed platforms.
• Ecosystem and managed services designed primarily for infrastructure and governance needs rather than a developer-first PaaS experience.

5. Cloud Temple: SecNumCloud-Certified Sovereign Cloud (ANSSI)

Cloud Temple is one of the very few French providers certified SecNumCloud. Its platform is designed for the most demanding sovereign requirements: public administrations, operators of vital importance (OIV), essential service operators (OSE) and critical industries.

Advantages

• SecNumCloud certification (ANSSI).
• Strong positioning for sensitive environments: administrations, OIV, OSE.
• Reinforced governance, isolation and security.

Limitations

• Focused on highly secure and qualified sovereign cloud services, mainly targeting critical and regulated environments.
• Less oriented towards general-purpose or developer-first PaaS use cases where European PaaS platforms may offer greater automation.

European cloud providers now offer a coherent technical and regulatory framework for organisations looking to secure their data, maintain control over their dependencies and rely on predictable infrastructures. Combining compliance, transparency and automation, they represent a credible alternative to hyperscalers whose models rely on extraterritorial jurisdictions.

In this landscape, Clever Cloud stands out with a PaaS approach focused on reliability and operational simplicity, full stack control and a SecNumCloud zone enabled through its partnership with Cloud Temple. This allows technical teams to deploy, operate and evolve their services within a sovereign, robust and business-aligned environment.