SAP and NTT Plan Cooperation on Sovereign Cloud and Business AI

What SAP and NTT plan to do

According to the announcement from Tokyo, the companies want to bring together SAP's enterprise application portfolio, SAP Sovereign Cloud and SAP Business AI capabilities with NTT's global infrastructure, full-stack integrated operations, deep industry AI expertise and global customer reach. The stated goal is to help customers benefit from cloud and AI innovation while retaining control over sensitive data, operations, technology and security.

SAP and NTT describe the plan as a shared ambition to advance secure, resilient and sovereign digital transformation for regulated industries. The wording is forward-looking throughout: the companies speak of an intention to cooperate and of a planned collaboration, not of a finished product or service.

Sovereign cloud as the first area

The initial area of cooperation is sovereign cloud. SAP and NTT plan to offer a broad set of sovereign capabilities that combine the SAP Sovereign Cloud On-Site offering with NTT-managed infrastructure and operations, for customers in key markets.

SAP describes SAP Sovereign Cloud On-Site as its deployment offering for customers with stringent sovereignty, regulatory and compliance requirements. It lets SAP-managed cloud solutions run in a customer-owned or customer-selected data center. According to SAP, this gives organizations a high degree of sovereignty across local physical control, data residency and operational assurance, while helping them address applicable local legal and regulatory requirements.

NTT's role is to add its global reach and its expertise in advising, designing, delivering and operating secure infrastructure. The companies say they intend to support customers in geographies where strong local control is required. The named target groups are governments, defense organizations, defense industry companies, critical infrastructure operators and other regulated enterprises. They are meant to modernize mission-critical processes while keeping control over sensitive data and operations and addressing compliance requirements.

Exploring AI for regulated sectors

Building on the sovereign cloud foundation, SAP and NTT say they intend to explore broader opportunities. These aim to help governments, critical infrastructure operators and highly regulated industries modernize mission-critical processes and adopt AI in a secure, responsible and sovereign manner. The announcement gives no details on specific AI products, timelines or pricing for this part.

Dominik Asam, member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of SAP SE, said the cooperation aims "to give customers a practical path to cloud and AI innovation while maintaining the control, governance and trust they require." He added that for public sector organizations and regulated industries, sovereignty is "the foundation for resilience, competitiveness and the responsible adoption of AI."

Yutaka Sasaki, Representative Member of the Board, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NTT, said customers are looking for practical ways to use AI to solve real business challenges. By combining SAP's business applications and AI capabilities with NTT's understanding of industry needs and mission-critical operations, NTT aims to help organizations "transform how they work, make better decisions and accelerate business outcomes through AI."

What it means for customers

For organizations that must keep data and operations under local control, the plan points to a route where SAP-managed cloud solutions run in a data center of their choice, with NTT handling infrastructure and operations. The announcement frames this as relevant to the public sector, defense and critical infrastructure.

Because the companies have so far announced only an intention to cooperate, availability, countries and commercial terms remain unspecified. SAP also notes that its statements about future events are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.