Nearly Nine in Ten Businesses Cannot Leave Their Largest Cloud or Infrastructure Provider Within Three Weeks, Leaseweb Research Finds

North America-November 4, 2026 — Nearly nine in ten (89%) businesses could not migrate business-critical workloads away from their largest cloud or infrastructure provider within three weeks, despite most believing they have control over their data, according to new research from Leaseweb, a global cloud services and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider. The Leaseweb Digital Independence Survey 2026, conducted among 800 C-suite leaders in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands, found that only 11% of organizations could make the move within this timeframe. More than half (55%) said it would take longer than three months, or was not currently possible. The Netherlands recorded the highest proportion of businesses expecting migration to take more than three months (65%), followed by the UK (59%), US (55%) and Germany (40%). Dutch businesses also gave the longest average estimated migration time, at 4.7 months.

AI Set to Increase Cloud Provider Lock-In

The challenge for many businesses is that this dependence is expected to grow even further as AI adoption increases. Overall, more than three-quarters (79%) of business leaders expect AI to increase their reliance on a small number of providers over the next three years (89% in the US, 83% in the UK, 76% in Germany, and 67% in the Netherlands). Geopolitical pressures are also prompting changes to infrastructure strategies. Over three-quarters (78%) have taken action to reduce reliance on a particular technology or infrastructure provider in response to geopolitical challenges, including 91% in the US and 87% in the UK, while 45% of respondents overall plan to take this even further. Businesses are also placing a clear financial value on independence. Almost all respondents would pay more to gain greater control, reduce provider dependence, or improve their freedom to move, and 73% would pay at least 11% more, with an average premium of approximately 16%. Willingness to pay was highest in the Netherlands, where 81% would pay at least 11% more and 26% would pay at least 21% more, followed by Germany with 79% willing to pay at least 11% more. “Digital independence comes down to having real choices, and our research shows many businesses have fewer than they think,” said Lex Boost, co-CEO at Leaseweb. “Organizations may believe they control their data, but once applications have been built around a provider’s platform, moving them is rarely quick or simple. With AI expected to tie businesses even more closely to a small number of providers, leaders need to understand and act on those dependencies now, not when a pricing change or geopolitical shift forces their hand.”

Additional findings include:

• 76% reported complete or high control over their ability to move data to another provider or environment, yet only 11% could migrate business-critical workloads from their largest provider within three weeks.
• Fewer than three in ten treat regulatory and legal compliance (28%) or security and data protection (28%) as non-negotiable when choosing a cloud provider, and two-thirds (67%) would accept at least a minor trade-off on compliance.
• AI-related technology and provider dependence was the most frequently selected potential barrier to digital independence overall (28%), although in Germany legacy-system complexity ranked first (30%).
• The leading non-negotiable considerations when choosing a cloud provider were availability and uptime in the US (35%), provider reputation and trust in the UK (34%), security and data protection in Germany (30%), while regulatory and legal compliance and exposure to geopolitical or trade-related risks were tied in the Netherlands (both 27%).                                          Methodology- Research conducted by Censuswide among 800 C-suite leaders at organizations with 500 to 5,000 employees, with 200 respondents each in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands between September 22-30, 2026.