Abstract:
As European countries and companies reassess their dependence on U.S. technology suppliers, local European cybersecurity vendors are gaining more and more market share. European cybersecurity companies have grown faster than their U.S. rivals amid a tariff spat, tightening transatlantic ties and rising data sovereignty concerns, new data shows.
Data released by market research organization Context show that between the third quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2026, EU-based network security vendors’ distribution channel sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region increased by 35%. By comparison, the overall market grew about 10% during the same period, while U.S. suppliers grew at 8%.
However, these data only cover distribution and sales channels in relevant regions and do not represent the entire EU cybersecurity market. Although the market share of European manufacturers has increased by nearly 3 percentage points, reaching 15% based on sales, American companies still occupy 62% of the market share and maintain their absolute leading position. Therefore, the market has not seen a large-scale "breakaway from American suppliers" phenomenon.
Context Vice President of Research Joe Turner said that "digital sovereignty" is gradually becoming an important factor in corporate purchasing decisions. More and more customers are concerned about who controls the encryption keys, who can access sensitive log data, and where critical data is ultimately stored. However, American manufacturers still have clear advantages in areas such as identity management and cloud security.
This change also reflects the concerns of some European companies about the U.S. policy environment. As the U.S. government imposes tariffs on its allies and European-U.S. relations continue to come under pressure, some organizations are beginning to re-examine their dependence on U.S. suppliers. At the same time, European regulatory requirements are also driving this trend, including regulations such as the Network and Information Security Directive 2 (NIS2) and the Digital Operations Resilience Act (DORA), which require organizations to pay more attention to supply chain security and technological autonomy.
In recent years, many European countries have begun to try to reduce their dependence on American technology companies. In September this year, there were reports that the Netherlands was developing a local operating system solution based on NixOS to reduce its dependence on the Microsoft software ecosystem. France announced plans to gradually migrate government office desktop systems from Windows to Linux, while looking for local European alternatives for instant messaging, video conferencing and file transfer.
This trend is extending beyond the EU as well. Switzerland has previously committed more than $11 million to a pilot program to replace Microsoft 365 with openDesk on 3,000 government computers. If the pilot is successful, the scale of deployment is expected to be further expanded in the future. The projects reflect growing concerns among European public institutions about basing critical public services on platforms from U.S. providers.
However, getting rid of the influence of American technology giants will not be easy. Previously, the Danish digital department has terminated the pilot project to replace Microsoft Office, showing that switching from the existing mature ecosystem to a new platform often faces many challenges such as technical compatibility, user habits, and operation and maintenance costs.
Analysts believe that the European market is not currently abandoning American technology products completely, but is seeking greater autonomy and supply chain diversification. Against the background of the rising concept of digital sovereignty, European local network security companies are ushering in new development opportunities, but American manufacturers will still maintain their market dominance in the short term.
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