“Today, Microsoft is announcing five digital commitments to Europe. These start with an expansion of our cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe, aimed at enabling every country to fully use these technologies to strengthen their economic competitiveness. And they include a promise to uphold Europe’s digital resilience regardless of geopolitical and trade volatility,” Brad Smith said in a blog post, adding that the five commitments, “like the very first European version of Microsoft Word, take our support for Europe another step forward.”
Microsoft announced plans to increase its European datacenter capacity by 40 percent over the next two years.
Sovereign cloud datacenters
The move is designed to power a broad AI and cloud ecosystem, supporting sectors from healthcare and manufacturing to government services and education. The initiative also includes investments in sovereign cloud solutions, such as the Bleu joint venture in France and the Delos project in Germany, as well as collaborations with European cloud providers to offer Microsoft applications and services on their local cloud infrastructure.
“In France, Microsoft has partnered with Capgemini and Orange, who formed a joint venture named Bleu. Designed as a “cloud de confiance” (trusted cloud) platform, Bleu offers a broad range of Microsoft Azure cloud services and Microsoft 365 productivity tools operated under French control. In Germany, a similar sovereign cloud initiative is underway through a partnership between Microsoft, SAP, and Arvato Systems (a Bertelsmann IT subsidiary). This effort, through SAP’s subsidiary, Delos Cloud GmbH, is creating a sovereign cloud platform for the German public sector, hosted in German datacenters and operated by German personnel,” he said, adding that Microsoft is committed to collaborating with European participants across the tech ecosystem.
Also Read: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Confident in Trump’s Support for AI
2. Uphold Europe’s Digital Resilience Even When There Is Geopolitical Volatility
In a step to address geopolitical risks, Microsoft committed to uphold Europe’s digital resilience. “By building a European cloud for Europe, Microsoft is committed to helping Europe navigate the uncertain geopolitical and trade environment and better manage risk by strengthening the continent’s digital resilience,” Smith said.
The company announced the formation of a European board to oversee local datacenter operations, a legally binding Digital Resilience Commitment included in government contracts, and contingency partnerships to ensure operational continuity. It also pledged to legally challenge any foreign order that may threaten the integrity of its European services.
“To further cement the nexus between Microsoft and Europe, going forward our European datacenter operations and their boards will be overseen by a European board of directors that consists exclusively of European nationals and operates under European law,” Smith said.
3. Continue to Protect the Privacy of European Data
“Microsoft has long been at the forefront in designing and implementing technology solutions to protect customer data. We enable customers to control where their data is stored and processed, how it is encrypted and secured, and when Microsoft can access it,” Smith highlighted.
To enhance data privacy, Microsoft highlighted the completion of its EU Data Boundary project, ensuring that European customers can store and process their data entirely within EU and EFTA jurisdictions. Additional security features include customer-controlled encryption, confidential computing, and “lockbox” data access protocols. The company reiterated its long-standing legal efforts to defend customer data against unlawful access, including past litigation that led to reforms in US data access laws.
“Today we commit to further strengthen and expand solutions that allow European customers to control and protect their data. We are embarking on new steps to listen to and consult with European customers to build on what already is the most complete, widest range of privacy, security, and sovereignty solutions that any cloud services provider now offers to customers in Europe,” Smith said.
4. Always Help Protect and Defend Europe’s Cybersecurity
On cybersecurity, Microsoft emphasised its continued support to NATO and Ukraine, citing over USD 500 million in technology and assistance since 2022. The company announced the appointment of a Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Europe to strengthen regulatory compliance with the EU’s emerging cybersecurity frameworks, including the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the NIS 2 Directive, and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). Microsoft committed to accelerating its compliance with the CRA and pledged independent auditing of its security measures.
“The appointment of a Deputy CISO for Europe reflects the importance and global influence of EU cybersecurity regulations and the company’s commitment to meeting and exceeding those expectations to prioritise cybersecurity across the region,” Smith highlighted.
Microsoft believes that the CRA will reshape the regulatory landscape as a new gold standard for cybersecurity, much as the GDPR did for privacy.
5. Help Strengthen Europe’s Economic Competitiveness, Including for Open Source
In a push to foster economic competitiveness and open-source innovation, Microsoft reaffirmed its AI Access Principles. With over 1,800 AI models hosted on its platform—many are open-source, such as those from European-based AI developers Mistral and Hugging Face—Microsoft aims to support diverse European enterprises, from startups to multinational corporations. Examples include partnerships with Factorial in Spain, iGenius in Italy, Visma in Norway, the Institut Curie in France, UBS in Switzerland, and Heineken in The Netherlands.
Smith concluded its announcement by reaffirming Microsoft’s commitment to European laws, values, and regulatory frameworks. “We will need to listen closely to European leaders, respect European values, and adhere to European laws. We are committed to doing all these things well,” Smith said, adding, “As we celebrated Microsoft’s 50th birthday earlier this month, we recognised that our longstanding presence in Europe has been a lynchpin of our success. Europe has treated us well. Our support for Europe has always been—and always will be—steadfast.”
Also Read: Denmark Launches Guidelines for AI Implementation in Europe with Microsoft
EU’s Response
“Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith has told the European Commission his company will abide by European rules regardless of whether it agrees with them or not,” the European Commission’s Vice President Teresa Ribera said on Monday, Reuters reported.
Ribera reportedly praised Microsoft’s approach, saying, “I think it’s much more valuable to acknowledge that it’s about complying with the rules if we want to operate in this market and we’re going to respect them, rather than just saying ‘you’re targeting me because I’m American’.”
If this article saved you time or helped you decide better, consider supporting our work.
Support Telecomtalk
