Key facts
| Sovereignty criteria | Data residency, model control, operational sovereignty and compliance alignment |
| Deployment models | Plugsky cloud region, VPC/private endpoint, on-prem and fully air-gapped |
| Air-gapped mode | No internet egress, local model registry and offline update channels |
| Key custody | BYOK via AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or on-prem HSM |
| Audit | Per-request logs with region; SIEM export; retention up to 7 years |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001, HIPAA with BAA; FedRAMP Moderate in process |
| API compatibility | OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions; change the base URL |
| Local presence | No Abha office or facility claimed; sovereignty is delivered by deployment model |
TL;DR
- Sovereignty covers data, models, operations and compliance — not just server location.
- Plugsky publishes no Abha facility; options are cloud regions, VPC, on-prem and air-gapped.
- Air-gapped sites run with no internet egress and offline update channels.
- BYOK keeps key custody with you via KMS or an on-prem HSM.
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA evidence support review; FedRAMP Moderate is in process.
How it works, step by step
- Define which sovereignty criteria your regulator, board or customer requires.
- Choose the deployment topology: cloud region, private cloud, on-prem or air-gapped.
- Decide key custody — managed KMS or an on-prem HSM with BYOK.
- Design offline update and model-approval workflows for air-gapped sites.
- Validate audit log fields, SIEM export and retention against your policy.
- Run a pilot on one workload and collect the evidence procurement needs.
- Move to production once the controls are signed off.
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What sovereign AI means for Abha organisations
Abha is a mountain city in Saudi Arabia's Asir region, known for its cooler climate, tourism and regional administration. Organisations here — government, healthcare and regional enterprises — increasingly need AI that satisfies four tests at once: data residency, model control, operational sovereignty and compliance alignment. A vendor that only promises a storage region fails at least one of them.
Sovereign AI means prompts, completions, embeddings, fine-tuned models and logs stay inside your legal jurisdiction and physical perimeter, and local administrators can run, patch and audit the stack without external dependencies. Plugsky publishes no Abha facility; sovereign deployments are delivered as cloud regions, private environments or customer-owned infrastructure — see the data-residency overview for the current region list.
Deployment models and key custody
Plugsky ships four deployment patterns for sovereign programmes:
- Region-locked cloud: a pinned plane in the EU (Frankfurt), GCC (UAE and KSA), APAC (Singapore) or US (Virginia and Oregon).
- VPC or private endpoint: the control plane inside your AWS, Azure or GCP account with no public ingress.
- On-prem: open-weight models on hardware you own, with local operations and patching.
- Air-gapped: no internet egress, a local model registry and offline update channels for defence, government and critical infrastructure.
Keys stay under your control with BYOK through AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or an on-prem HSM. Per-request audit logs record model, tokens, latency, user and region, and export to your SIEM with retention up to 7 years.
Compliance evidence and audit for Abha programmes
Procurement and security teams can review documented programs rather than assurances: SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001, HIPAA with a BAA, and GDPR/PDPL alignment. FedRAMP Moderate is in process, so treat it as pending for US federal work. Enterprise contracts add a DPA with EU SCCs, custom sub-processor terms, right-to-audit clauses and custom SLAs.
For Saudi programmes, PDPL alignment is the published starting point; request the current evidence pack and sub-processor list before committing.
How to run a sovereign pilot from Abha
Start with one workload and a written definition of which sovereignty criteria apply. Then choose the deployment topology — cloud region, private cloud, on-prem or air-gapped — decide key custody (managed KMS or an on-prem HSM), design offline update and model-approval workflows for air-gapped sites, and validate audit fields, SIEM export and retention against policy. Run the pilot, collect the evidence procurement needs, then move to production once controls are signed off.
The API stays OpenAI-compatible and one key reaches 30+ models, so existing SDK code, prompts and evaluations carry over. New accounts start on the free plan with plugsky-micro and plugsky-lite and a 14-day full-access trial; see the live pricing page for current plans.
Honest comparison
| Capability | Plugsky | Typical public-cloud AI | Building in-house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty scope | Data, model, operations and compliance covered | Usually data location only | You must build and prove all four |
| Deployment models | Cloud region, VPC, on-prem, air-gapped | Shared public cloud only | Your own infrastructure only |
| Air-gapped mode | No internet egress, offline updates | Not offered | Custom engineering effort |
| Key custody | BYOK via KMS or on-prem HSM | Provider-managed keys | You operate the HSMs |
| Audit | Per-request logs with region; SIEM export; up to 7 years | Often limited retention | You build the pipeline |
| Local presence in Abha | No facility claimed; sovereignty is deployment-based | Varies by provider | Depends on your own sites |
Frequently asked questions
Does Plugsky have a facility in Abha?
No. Plugsky does not claim an office or data centre in Abha; sovereign deployments are delivered as cloud regions, private environments or customer-owned infrastructure. See /data-residency for the current region list.
What makes a deployment sovereign?
Four criteria at once: data residency, model control, operational sovereignty and compliance alignment. A deployment that only pins storage to a region does not satisfy the full set.
Can Plugsky run fully air-gapped?
Yes. Air-gapped deployments run with no internet egress, a local model registry and offline update channels, which suits defence, government and critical infrastructure programmes.
Who holds the encryption keys?
You can. BYOK is supported through AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or an on-prem HSM, with per-region envelope encryption for data at rest.
What compliance evidence can we review?
SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001/27017/27018 and HIPAA with a BAA; FedRAMP Moderate is in process. Enterprise contracts add a DPA with EU SCCs, sub-processor terms and right-to-audit clauses.
Can we keep using the OpenAI SDK?
Yes. The API is OpenAI-compatible, so you change the base URL and model name and keep your existing SDK, prompts and evaluations.
How do we start a sovereign pilot?
Pick one workload, define the sovereignty criteria in writing, choose the deployment topology and key custody, then run the pilot and collect the evidence procurement needs before production.
Would our data be used to train models?
No — prompts are not used to train models. For strict requirements, use a private, on-prem or air-gapped deployment so data stays inside the contracted environment.