New Global Research Shows AI Fueling Hybrid and Private Cloud Adoption While U.S. Concerns Around Vendor Lock-In and Digital Sovereignty Heat Up

Enterprise open source leader SUSE’s “Cloud and AI Pulse Survey” measures impact of AI on cloud adoption, budgets and IT resilience with one-third of U.S. ranking digital sovereignty a top priority

LUXEMBOURG, March 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SUSE, a global leader in enterprise open source solutions, today released its inaugural Cloud and AI Pulse Survey revealing that a growing number of enterprises are turning to hybrid (59%) and private (16%) cloud due to technical and business concerns and digital sovereignty requirements. The global survey of nearly 600 enterprise technology leaders in the U.S., UK, Japan, India and Germany examined the impact of AI on cloud adoption, budgets, governance, IT priorities and resilience. In the U.S., amidst shifting global sentiment, one-third (31%) cited digital sovereignty as a top tech priority this year, fueled by the need for open source support and vendor lock-in concerns.

“While it was no surprise that more than half of survey respondents say implementing AI is a major challenge, we were encouraged by the impact AI is having on hybrid and private cloud adoption and digital sovereignty as it relates to AI model training data,” said Margaret Dawson, Chief Marketing Officer at SUSE. “This new data confirms what we are seeing from customers; priorities are shifting toward more flexible, scalable and governed deployments.”

AI Drives New Set of Priorities

As AI increases system complexity, risk exposure and priorities are shifting toward scalable and governed deployments.

• Globally, implementing AI ranked as either a critical (24%) or major (37%) challenge.
• When it comes to AI model training, digital sovereignty is becoming a defining requirement cited as either extremely (42%) or very (40%) important.
• Four out of five countries cited implementing AI as their top budget priority line item.
• In Germany, AI implementation ranked only twelfth as a critical challenge, but second as a budget priority, indicating a notable gap between perceived urgency and investment.

Hybrid Cloud and Open Source Resurgence

Across the globe, data reveals that respondents are re-architecting AI environments around control and compliance. Hybrid and multi-cloud were cited as strong options, providing the ability to support regulated, sensitive, and edge workloads while maintaining operational flexibility.

This shift away from public cloud is consistent with the larger industry movement fueled by AI, such as the buildout of private AI factories which is expected to reach 20% adoption this year according to Forrester alongside growth of on-premises servers to manage local compute costs, performance, and data governance requirements.

• 59% of organizations plan to prioritize hybrid cloud deployments for workloads where digital sovereignty is required, with 16% relying purely on private cloud.
• Over half (51%) plan to spend more on scaling across multiple cloud environments.
• Nearly half (46%) are increasing their investment in enterprise support for Open Source.
• On average, the top three priorities globally were as follows:
  • Skills gaps and talent shortages
  • Enhanced security
  • Implementing AI
    

U.S. Concerns and Priorities: Vendor Lock-In and IT Resilience

In the U.S., concerns around vendor dependency and IT resilience are shifting from concerns to core priorities.

• As it relates to digital sovereignty, 39% of U.S. enterprises express concern about reducing vendor lock-in, higher than any other country and outpacing the global average of 25%.
• Similarly, in terms of challenges, 50% cite vendor lock-in as a critical or major issue.
• Compared to other countries, 64% of U.S. respondents cited IT resilience as the most important technological priority, higher than the global average of 55%.
• 53% of U.S. respondents cite enhanced security as a top IT priority.
• In the U.S., implementing AI ranks as both the top budget priority (#1) and second-largest critical challenge (#2).
  

Survey Methodology

The Cloud and AI Pulse Survey was conducted among 596 global enterprise technology leaders, including director-level and senior decision-makers responsible for software tools and IT infrastructure strategy.

Forrester Blog - November 10, 2025: Predictions 2026: Prepare For AI, Security, And Integrated Network Infrastructure And Operations, Michele Pelino and Naveen Chhabra

About SUSE 
SUSE is a global leader in enterprise open source software, across Linux operating systems, Kubernetes container management, Edge solutions and AI. The majority of the Fortune 500 rely on SUSE to provide resilient infrastructure, enabling IT leaders to optimize cost and manage heterogeneous environments. SUSE collaborates with partners and communities to provide organizations with choices to maximize their current IT systems and innovate with next-generation technologies across traditional on-premises, to cloud native, multi-cloud to edge and beyond. For more information, visit www.suse.com.

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