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 |
| Region-locked planes | EU (Frankfurt), GCC (UAE and KSA), APAC (Singapore) and US (Virginia and Oregon); confirm the current list |
| Air-gapped mode | No internet egress, a local model registry and offline update channels |
| Key custody | BYOK via AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or an 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 a BAA; FedRAMP Moderate in process |
| Local presence | No Cape Town office or facility claimed; sovereignty is deployment-based |
TL;DR
- Cape Town's regulated buyers increasingly require proof of processing location and auditability.
- Plugsky publishes no Cape Town facility; options are cloud regions, VPC, on-prem and air-gapped.
- VPC and private-endpoint deployments keep the control plane inside your cloud account.
- One OpenAI-compatible API reaches 30+ models, so SDK code and prompts carry over.
- BYOK keeps key custody with you via your KMS or an on-prem HSM.
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.
Try it yourself
Open the AI data residency checklist →
The Cape Town case for sovereign AI
Cape Town is South Africa's legislative capital and the economic centre of the Western Cape, with strengths in finance, tourism, film, technology and logistics around its port. Public institutions and private firms here handle personal data under a national privacy statute. Buyers in regulated sectors increasingly require proof of processing location and auditability.
Sovereign AI means data, models, compute and operations stay inside your jurisdiction and perimeter, with local administrators able to run, patch and audit the stack. Plugsky publishes no Cape Town office or data centre; options and the current region list are at /data-residency.
Cloud, VPC, on-prem or air-gapped: what each proves
Plugsky ships four deployment patterns for South Africa programmes:
- Region-locked cloud: a pinned data plane — EU (Frankfurt), GCC (UAE and KSA), APAC (Singapore) or US (Virginia and Oregon); see /data-residency.
- VPC or private endpoint: runs inside your AWS, Azure or GCP account with no public ingress.
- On-prem: open-weight models on hardware you own, operated and patched locally.
- Air-gapped: no internet egress, a local model registry and offline update channels.
For South Africa teams, start from the published region list; where no in-country plane exists, VPC, on-prem or air-gapped patterns are how residency requirements are met. BYOK keeps key custody with you via AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault or an on-prem HSM, and per-request audit logs capture model, tokens, latency, user and region.
What procurement can verify
Procurement and security teams can review documented programmes rather than assurances: SOC 2 Type II under NDA, ISO 27001/27017/27018, HIPAA with a BAA, and GDPR alignment. FedRAMP Moderate is in process, so treat it as pending for US federal work. Enterprise contracts add a DPA with EU SCCs, sub-processor terms, right-to-audit clauses and custom SLAs.
In South Africa, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) governs personal data, supervised by the Information Regulator, with breach notification duties. Confirm current requirements with counsel.
Starting small: a sovereign pilot checklist
Start with one workload and a written definition of the sovereignty criteria that apply. Choose the deployment topology and key custody, design offline update 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.
Because the API is OpenAI-compatible, existing SDK code, prompts and evaluation harnesses keep working, and one key reaches 30+ models. New accounts can start on the free plan with plugsky-micro and plugsky-lite and a 14-day full-access trial; current plans are listed on the live pricing page.
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 Cape Town | No facility claimed; sovereignty is deployment-based | Varies by provider | Depends on your own sites |
Frequently asked questions
Does Plugsky have a facility in Cape Town?
No. Plugsky does not claim an office or data centre in Cape Town; 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. Pinning storage to a region alone 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.
How does data protection law in South Africa affect deployment choice?
South Africa's POPIA governs personal data, supervised by the Information Regulator. Residency and processing-location requirements usually decide whether a hosted, VPC, on-prem or air-gapped pattern is acceptable.