The stated rationale is compute sovereignty: European data, processed on European infrastructure, under European jurisdiction. The commercial rationale is that whoever has capacity in place when the rules take effect inherits the customers who need to comply on a deadline.

Both can be true. They usually are.

Timing is the story

The announcement precedes the relevant regulatory deadline by enough margin that the facilities will be operational before compliance becomes mandatory. That is not caution. It is an attempt to make this particular architecture the reference implementation regulators have in mind when they write the technical standards.

Competitors will need to match the commitment or argue that a different architecture also satisfies the rules, a harder case to make once one exists and works.