DeepL is one of the biggest success stories in the EU innovation market. The Cologne-based company has dominated the professional translation sector, routinely outperforming Google Translate in accuracy benchmarks. The startup’s algorithms are now used by governments, courts, and half of the Fortune 500, translating into $185.2 million in revenue last year.
The company recently announced the launch of an innovative live voice translation feature. Just ahead of the rollout, however, paying subscribers received a notice detailing a fundamental shift in the system’s architecture. The startup disclosed that it will no longer process data exclusively on its own servers and is migrating some of its operations to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.
The decision immediately sparked fierce backlash from market watchers and rivals alike. Critics point out that the Amazon tie-up tightens Silicon Valley’s already massive monopoly over digital infrastructure, stripping Europe of its status as an independent player. Marco Trombetti, co-founder and CEO of the Rome-based firm Translated, offered a blunt assessment of his competitor’s move:
“Europe needs to be absolutely independent in terms of infrastructure. Digital infrastructure is the road network of today. We cannot pay a toll when we want to do business” – Trombetti pointed out, as quoted by The Guardian.
DeepL representatives are defending the partnership, citing the need to scale operations globally. The company assured users that Amazon will not gain any access to premium customer data – it will not be able to view it or use it to train its own algorithms. Users also still have the option to select a setting that ensures their information never leaves servers located on European soil. Still, some experts question the long-term reliability of these safeguards when stacked against US legislation, spearheaded by the CLOUD Act.
The issue of innovation flight is also heavily rooted in geopolitics and hardware. In January 2026, the US Department of Commerce introduced regulations granting domestic companies priority access to US-manufactured advanced processors, which are critical for AI development. This means EU startups are hitting massive roadblocks in securing computing power without going through tech giants across the Atlantic.
Leevi Saari, a Finnish researcher at the University of Amsterdam and the AI Now Institute, accurately diagnoses the market dynamics, explaining exactly why Amazon’s offer was so tempting for the German startup:
“Currently, the gravitational forces of the AI industry are such that startups will end up being pulled towards the US. How can Europe create its own AI gravity well? That’s the trillion euro question” – Saari concluded.