This is the beginning of an article considering how to reduce UK dependency on American software and hardware platforms to mitigate the risk of economic (cold) war with the United States.
US Technology companies include household names like Microsoft, Google/Alphabet, Amazon/AWS, Apple, Meta (WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook), YouTube, X, Salesforce, Netflix, eBay, OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Intel and AMD.
The prospect of cold war between the United Kingdom or Europe and the United States may until recently (2025) never have been considered by your organisation. Even had it been recorded as a theoretical risk on a risk register somewhere, it may have seemed so remote a possibility and so seemingly impossible to mitigate against that the risk was simply accepted (low risk, high impact).
Recent events, including the introduction and threat of further tariffs on the UK and Europe, and unprecedented actions on the world stage may have changed the perception of that risk.
Likely, your US software vendors – Microsoft, Amazon AWS, Google, etc. won’t allow you to host their cloud application, platform and infrastructure services on your own hardware or ‘tin’. Or if they do e.g. through Docker containerised services or similar, such alternative hosting models will themselves introduce dependency on American operating systems and/or hardware/microchip technology.
So how to address the risk?
Two main options present themselves.
Firstly, put pressure on US vendors to provide a mechanism to address this risk e.g. open source their software or put their software into an escrow arrangement for release on condition of economic sanction, tariff or other conflict with the US.
Secondly, ensure all dependencies on technologies (this need not be confined to US technologies) are documented to a sufficient level that mission critical applications could be rewritten for porting and data migration to non-US technology or non-proprietary platforms. This might include producing architecture diagrams (business, data, application, technology) and functional specifications.
Such documentation would necessarily include everything from the ground up i.e.
- hardware/virtual infrastructure (including routers, routing configuration, servers, storage, CPUs, peripherals, etc.)
- platforms (operating systems, database servers, application servers)
- applications (bespoke, configuration and customisation of application platforms like ERP, CRM, CMS, LLM, Reporting, Data Analysis, Machine Learning, etc. and database platforms for OLTP, OLAP, etc.)
If you have experience of performing these negotiations and analysis, reusable templates and processes to employ, pitfalls and gotchas to watch out for or anything else to mitigate the risks of dependency on non-national resources please do share in a comment.
With such specifications, one can imagine the prospect of automating the development of applications from them, built upon non-US and non-proprietary technologies.
Furthermore, a future national or European cloud software vendor could offer similar services to the US companies that currently dominate by reverse engineering the specifications of such services.
Platforms for low-code and no-code application development have existed for some time, and AI platforms for building apps from descriptions, like Google’s Opal, are already available.
Start by focusing on your most mission critical applications. The lessons learned can be used to inform the subsequent porting of any application in more efficient and optimal ways.
Legislation is being progressed to address the UK’s empirical lack of “digital sovereignty” but organisations, especially those providing critical national infrastructure would be wise to consider the options available until legislation is enacted.
Cybersecurity Bill: ORG calls on MPs to reduce UK reliance on US tech companies
Digital sovereignty is the capacity of a state, organization, or individual to independently control digital infrastructure, data, and decision-making processes within their jurisdiction.
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_gb/what-is/data-sovereignty
A global interconnected pattern of dependencies is a positive for world cooperation and ultimately peace but where there is an imbalance of power in any realm, such imbalance could be exploited and upset world order. Steps to mitigate such imbalance help ensure no nation gets too big for its boots and necessitate mutual respect.
The United States has benefited from international trust in globalisation and now holds significant influence stemming from that trust. International reliance on US technology and other companies has allowed them to grow unchecked to a point where they can potentially upset the delicate balance of power needed for the security of the world.
Eternal vigilance, recognising and mitigating the risk of power imbalance is perhaps the price we pay for a safe world.
GI Chow 