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 NEOM office or facility claimed; sovereignty is delivered by deployment model |
TL;DR
- No NEOM office or facility is claimed; sovereignty is delivered by the deployment model.
- Sovereignty covers data, models, operations and compliance — not just server location.
- Options: region-locked cloud planes, a private VPC endpoint, on-prem or fully air-gapped.
- Air-gapped sites run with no internet egress and offline update channels.
- BYOK key custody and SIEM audit export with retention up to 7 years.
How it works, step by step
- Define which sovereignty criteria your regulator, board or customer requires in NEOM.
- Choose the deployment topology: region-locked cloud, private VPC endpoint, 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.
Original data
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Why NEOM organisations need sovereign deployment
NEOM is a planned development region in north-west Saudi Arabia's Tabuk Province, part of Vision 2030 and built around projects such as THE LINE, Oxagon and Trojena. As its digital infrastructure takes shape, sovereign deployment is a design requirement rather than an afterthought.
Organisations in NEOM working in construction, digital infrastructure and tourism 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 NEOM facility; sovereign deployments are delivered as cloud regions, private environments or customer-owned infrastructure — see the data-residency overview for the current region list.
Sovereign deployment options for NEOM
Plugsky ships four deployment patterns for sovereign programmes:
- Region-locked cloud: a pinned data plane in the region you select; the current region list is published at /data-residency.
- 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.
Evidence and audit for sovereign AI
Instead of assurances, security teams get documented programs: SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001, HIPAA with a BAA, and GDPR/PDPL alignment. FedRAMP Moderate is in process — treat US federal work as pending. Enterprise agreements add a DPA with EU SCCs, sub-processor terms, right-to-audit clauses and custom SLAs.
For Saudi Arabia-linked programmes, request the current evidence pack and sub-processor list; data-protection expectations vary by sector and regulator.
From pilot to air-gapped production
Begin with a single workload and a written definition of the sovereignty criteria in scope. Pick the deployment topology — cloud region, private cloud, on-prem or air-gapped — decide key custody, plan offline update and model-approval workflows for air-gapped sites, and test audit fields, SIEM export and retention against your 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 covers higher tiers; 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 NEOM | No facility claimed; sovereignty is deployment-based | Varies by provider | Depends on your own sites |
Frequently asked questions
Does Plugsky have a facility in NEOM?
No. Plugsky does not claim an office or data centre in NEOM; 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. Teams in NEOM typically start on the free plan and use the 14-day full-access trial for larger models.
Which capabilities are live today?
Chat, streaming, JSON mode, function calling, embeddings, RAG and agents are live. Audio, images, moderation, files, batch, fine-tuning, assistants and responses are coming soon — check the docs before planning those workloads.