Apple
Verified“US-incorporated, US-controlled, US-data machine — EU only reaches it via fines.”
- Listing
- NASDAQ: AAPL
- Revenue (FY2024)
- $391.0B
- Employees
- ~164,000
- EU enforcement
- €2.3B+ fined
16 = midpoint of Control 15 & Data 16
Sovereignty Quadrant
Control ↑ who owns & governs the company · Data → where your data lives. Every dot is a company — click to open it.
Every number below traces to 14 sourced facts across 9 independent sources, last verified 2026-06-12. 3 open questions hold confidence at 88% — they lower confidence, never the score.
Control ↑
Who legally and economically controls the company
Legal & Jurisdiction
22
Incorporated in California and run from Cupertino; the EU operating/contracting entity (Apple Distribution International, Cork) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a US parent. EU law reaches it via fines but control is fully foreign.
Why 22? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Apple Inc. is incorporated in California with principal executive offices at One Apple Park Way, Cupertino.
Apple Inc. FY2024 Form 10-K (cover) · as of 2024-09-28
Apple Distribution International Ltd (Hollyhill, Cork, Ireland) is the EU operating entity, with Ireland's Data Protection Commission as lead GDPR supervisory authority.
Irish Data Protection Commission decision · as of 2024-03
The European Commission fined Apple €1.8 billion under competition law (anti-steering, music streaming) in March 2024, demonstrating EU enforceability.
European Commission / digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu · as of 2024-03-04
Apple was designated a DMA gatekeeper and fined €500 million for breaching its anti-steering obligation in April 2025.
European Commission / digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu · as of 2025-04
Control & Ownership
8
NASDAQ-listed under AAPL; ~15.1B shares held overwhelmingly by US institutional investors (Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street). No EU voting or economic majority of any kind.
Why 8? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Apple common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol AAPL; ~15.12 billion shares were outstanding as of October 18, 2024.
Apple Inc. FY2024 Form 10-K (cover) · as of 2024-10-18
The largest holders are US asset managers: Vanguard (~8.9%), BlackRock (~7.7%) and State Street, with institutions owning roughly 60%+ of shares.
FOREX.com — Apple's Largest Shareholders · as of 2024
Insiders (incl. Tim Cook) collectively hold roughly 2% of shares; no EU-domiciled controlling or anchor shareholder exists.
FOREX.com — Apple's Largest Shareholders · as of 2024
Data →
Where your data lives and who can reach it
Data & Infrastructure
12
iCloud data sits in Apple's own data centers plus US-jurisdiction third-party clouds, all under a US parent and thus exposed to the CLOUD Act. No EU-sovereign infrastructure; default encryption leaves Apple holding keys.
Why 12? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Apple states iCloud data may be stored in Apple and third-party data centers; encryption keys are held in Apple data centers and accessed only by Apple software.
Apple Support — iCloud data security overview · as of 2024
Apple's own iOS Security Guide previously disclosed iCloud file content is stored on third-party clouds including Amazon S3 and Google Cloud, with Apple holding the keys.
Macworld — Where Apple stores your iCloud data · as of 2018-01
As a US-based provider Apple is subject to the US CLOUD Act, which can compel data regardless of where it is physically stored, including EU regions.
Wire — What the CLOUD Act Means for EU Data Sovereignty · as of 2024
Advanced Data Protection adds end-to-end encryption for most iCloud categories but is opt-in (off by default) and excludes Mail, Contacts and Calendar.
Apple Support — Advanced Data Protection for iCloud · as of 2024
Operations & People
22
HQ, executive team and reporting currency (USD) are US-centered; ~164,000 employees globally with a large EU retail/Ireland presence, but leadership and governance sit in Cupertino.
Why 22? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Apple had approximately 164,000 full-time equivalent employees worldwide as of September 28, 2024.
Apple Inc. FY2024 Form 10-K (Human Capital) · as of 2024-09-28
Apple reported total net sales of $391.0 billion for fiscal 2024 ($294.9B products, $96.2B services), reported in US dollars.
Apple Inc. FY2024 Q4 Form 8-K · as of 2024-09-28
Apple states a majority of net sales come from outside the US and a majority of supplier facilities are located outside the US, yet HQ and leadership remain in Cupertino.
Apple Inc. FY2024 Form 10-K (Risk Factors) · as of 2024-09-28
Aligned to the EU Commission’s official Cloud Sovereignty Framework (SEAL, Jun 2026) →
What we don’t know
3 open questions — they lower confidence, never the score
- ?
Exactly which third-party cloud providers and physical regions host EU users' iCloud data today (Apple no longer names AWS/Google Cloud publicly).
Limits precision on where EU data physically resides and under whose jurisdiction; infra score reflects the structural US-parent exposure regardless.
- ?
What share of EU users actually enable Advanced Data Protection (default is off).
Determines how much real-world iCloud data is beyond Apple's (and a CLOUD Act request's) reach versus Apple-key-held.
- ?
Precise EU-resident headcount and the legal structure of Apple's Irish/EU subsidiaries' data-controller relationships.
Would refine operations and legal scores but does not change US ultimate control.
EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework lens
The EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework formally targets cloud service providers, not device makers; the rows below are an analogous sovereignty mapping for Apple's iCloud/device stack, not a certification or an official SEAL assessment.
Strategic
US-headquartered, US-controlled global vendor; EU is a market and regulatory jurisdiction, not a locus of strategic control.
Legal & jurisdictional
California-incorporated under a US parent; EU reaches it via fines (DMA, state aid) but cannot claim jurisdictional ownership of the entity.
Data & AI
iCloud governed by a US provider subject to the CLOUD Act; strong on-device privacy and optional E2EE, but default keys held by Apple and no EU-sovereign data plane.
Operational
Leadership, decision-making and USD reporting are US-centered despite a large EU retail and Irish operational footprint.
Supply chain
Apple's own 10-K notes a majority of supplier facilities are outside the US, concentrated in Asia; minimal EU manufacturing.
Technological
Vertically integrated proprietary stack (silicon, OS, services) designed and owned in the US; no EU technological autonomy or open substitutability.
Security & compliance
Strong security engineering, GDPR compliance via the Irish entity and DPC oversight, transparency reporting — but compliance under foreign control.
Environmental sustainability
Public carbon-neutral and recycled-materials commitments and renewable-energy data centers, though claims are self-reported.
EU alternatives
EU-incorporated, repairable, long-support smartphone maker — a genuine EU device alternative, but tiny scale and runs Android (Google) or /e/OS rather than a fully EU stack.
French de-Googled OS plus Murena cloud — an EU-controlled iCloud/iOS-services alternative, but small and built atop AOSP/third-party hosting.
German, open-source, self-hostable file sync/collaboration — a strong EU-sovereign alternative to iCloud storage when self-hosted or run on EU providers.
How the method works
Methodology v2 (provisional): the score is the midpoint of two axes — Control (who owns and governs the company) and Data (where your data lives and who can reach it). Each axis is scored only on verified evidence; unknowns reduce confidence, never the score. Every input below is sourced; the weights and judgments are open to challenge.
Spotted an error? Every claim is sourced — challenge it and we correct the record.
- 2026-06-12 — Initial golden profile, authored from primary sources (human + AI review).
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Verified 2026-06-12 · Human + AI joint review (sources independently checked) · Methodology