swiss hosting update
Christian Walter ist Geschäftsführer und Redaktionsleiter von swiss made software. Bis Ende 2010 arbeitete er als Fachjournalist für das ICT-Magazin Netzwoche, publizierte zuletzt aber auch im Swiss IT Magazin, der Computerworld sowie inside-it.
With almost 400 companies now actively using the swiss hosting label, swiss made software is pleased with the progress of the initiative – seven years after it first brought digital sovereignty into the spotlight.
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However, there is also a less pleasant side to our popularity: For example, the ongoing situation of Swiss hosting providers being bought out by foreign buyers. On the one hand, this is just how things go – legitimate ‘business as usual’. On the other hand, the current geopolitical developments mean ‘business as usual’ is no longer ‘business as usual’ in the way it used to be. As such, when a once Swiss hosting provider is sold off to foreign majority owners, this reduces our country’s collective digital sovereignty.
We understand that people should have confidence in the swiss hosting label. To this end, we will soon begin publishing a list of companies that have had to give up their use of the label following a sale to a foreign company.
swiss made software requires that all companies that are forced to end their use of the label communicate this transparently to their customers. This is an express provision in the current version of the swiss hosting contract. Nevertheless, we repeatedly find that such information is either not provided to software provider partners or other customers, or this information and the resulting implications are not properly acknowledged or, when necessary, acted upon. This information is particularly important in the case of hosting and cloud service providers, as they often have numerous customers who rely on this status to promote their own hosting services as swiss made, also using the swiss hosting label. If a hosting or cloud service provider no longer qualifies for the swiss hosting label, the software provider using these services must also stop using it.
In this respect, we are now announcing that Threema has lost the right to use the swiss hosting label. This is a special case, as this particular situation has never arisen before. In January 2026, swiss made software learned that Threema had been sold to Comitis Capital, a German investment firm. These new investors had acquired the majority stake from the previous investors, AFINUM. It also transpired that Threema had not revealed the stake previously held by the German company, AFINUM back when it applied for the label in 2024, signing the contract despite it containing the express confirmation that the company is at least two-thirds Swiss-owned. Threema was then informed that the contract is invalid due to this misrepresentation of the facts, and asked to immediately remove the swiss hosting label. This has now been taken care of. Please note: The swiss made software and swiss digital services labels are unaffected, and will remain in place.