Thread by @AveEuropae

You know who's taking a big bet on Europe 🇪🇺?

Lidl.

Lidl has taken on the mission to build European sovereignty with full force.

Why a retailer is taking on Microsoft and Amazon - and what this means for Europe's future.

A thread 🧵

Lidl was founded by Dieter Schwarz, currently the richest man in Germany. Lidl is part of the Schwarz Group - a private company behind the many companies that are associated with Lidl. It is also the third largest private company in the entire world.

Everyone in Europe knows Lidl - they're present in all EU countries, they're the biggest retailer in Europe by far.

But a few years ago, Lidl thought it necessary to digitalise their operations. They didn't want to fall behind their competition - and introduced the Lidl App.

The Lidl App is supposed to do what Amazon does - collect information on their users and recommend sales and products that the user may want, all to retain customers. This means storing a lot of data f their users, which means Lidl needed a cloud service.

Rather than relying on Amazon and Microsoft, - because of data protection worries - Lidl instead took a big bet: Build their own, European-based cloud infrastructure. From scratch.

Lidl became a tech company.

Schwarz Digits was born.

Schwarz Digits board member in an interview: "Especially after the gas crisis it has become clear: Europe needs technological sovereignty. We are dependent on outsiders who don't share our values - which is why we decided to not rely on foreign services."

Schwarz is taking European sovereignty seriously - despite the massive costs. Lidl essentially had no experience in IT, but through smart investments and a steady hand they have managed to build a real alternative to Amazon and Microsoft - StackIT.

schwarz-digits.de/en/whitepaper_…

Schwarz is now aggressively advertising European digital sovereignty, which is a move we can only welcome. Nethertheless, it will remain an uphill battle for Schwarz to compete with the tech giants.

We can only welcome it if Amazon's and Microsoft's grip on Europe is weakened.

It is essential for Europe that such massive investments succeed.

Profit margins are huge in cloud services and most of the profits go straight to America.

Politicians must incentivise the adoption of European tech by Europeans - especially the more hostile the US becomes.

Startups like France's Mistral or the recent Lovable - the fastest growing software company of all time - but also Schwarz' investments are encouraging.

European digital sovereignty is necessary, and both the private and public sector must work together to achieve this.

For 🇪🇺