France's Thales partners with Google on secure cloud services

FILE PHOTO: The logo of French defence and electronics group Thales is seen at the company's headquarters in Merignac near Bordeaux, France, March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

PARIS (Reuters) - Defence company Thales and Google are partnering to offer state-vetted cloud computing services for the storage of some of France's most sensitive data, the companies said on Wednesday.

The alliance between Thales, Europe's largest defence electronics supplier, and the Alphabet unit fulfils a May government plan under which France acknowledged U.S. technological superiority in the field.