Microsoft has laid out a multi-faceted strategy to solidify its engagement with Europe, presenting five distinct digital commitments that address infrastructure, data handling, security, and operational stability against a backdrop of global uncertainty.
Articulated by Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, the initiative underscores Microsoft’s view that maintaining the confidence of European nations and customers is fundamental to its business, building on a presence dating back over four decades to its first product localization in Europe with Microsoft Word 42 years ago. Smith stated, “We recognize that our business is critically dependent on sustaining the trust of customers, countries, and governments across Europe. We respect European values, comply with European laws, and actively defend Europe’s cybersecurity.”
This move, coming as Microsoft also reflected on its 50th anniversary in April 2025, aims to align the tech company more closely with European regulations, including the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and competition law, and strategic priorities amidst ongoing global tech policy debates.
A Pledge For Stability In Uncertain Times
Perhaps the most striking element is a direct response to geopolitical and trade frictions: a “European Digital Resilience Commitment.” Microsoft intends to make this a legally binding promise within contracts for European governments and the EU Commission.
Should any government order Microsoft to halt its European cloud operations, the company pledges to use every legal tool, including court action, to challenge such a directive. “In the unlikely event we are ever ordered by any government anywhere in the world to suspend or cease cloud operations in Europe,” Smith wrote, “we are committing that Microsoft will promptly and vigorously contest such a measure using all legal avenues available, including by pursuing litigation in court.”
Smith also pointed to Microsoft’s history of pursuing litigation against the U.S. Executive Branch during previous administrations to protect customer data and immigrant rights as evidence of this resolve.
This assurance arrives shortly after the Trump administration objected to the EU’s draft AI Code of Practice, illustrating the kind of transatlantic friction the commitment seeks to mitigate.
Further bolstering this, Microsoft’s datacenter operations on the continent will now fall under the purview of a European board of directors, staffed entirely by European nationals and governed by European law.
Contingency plans involving designated European partners and code backups stored securely in Switzerland are also part of this resilience strategy, although the practical implementation of such complex handover scenarios presents considerable challenges.
Expanding Europe’s AI And Cloud Foundation
Underpinning these commitments is a substantial investment in physical infrastructure. Microsoft plans a 40% expansion of its European datacenter capacity within two years, aiming to more than double its 2023 footprint by 2027 across 16 countries, totaling over 200 facilities.
This costly build-out resonates with the EU’s own strategic push, detailed in its recently announced AI Continent Action Plan, which includes ambitions to build large “AI gigafactories” and numerous smaller “AI Factories.”
Microsoft’s infrastructure strategy encompasses diverse deployment models: its standard public cloud, specialized sovereign cloud ventures – such as Bleu in France with Capgemini and Orange, and the Delos Cloud initiative in Germany involving SAP and Arvato Systems, designed to meet specific national data control needs – and dedicated support for local European cloud providers.
Microsoft stated it will offer these local providers more favorable terms for running Microsoft applications than those given to AWS and Google. This collaborative stance follows Microsoft joining the European cloud provider trade group CISPE in January after resolving a prior antitrust complaint concerning its licensing.
Reinforcing Data Sovereignty And Privacy
Microsoft emphasized its data privacy measures, built upon the completion of its EU Data Boundary. This initiative, which began its phased rollout in early 2024, ensures that customer data (including logs and technical support data) for core cloud services — specifically Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Azure services — stays within the EU/EFTA for European commercial and public sector clients.
This localization simplifies compliance with strict EU data regulations like GDPR. Microsoft also pointed to existing technologies like Confidential Compute (which encrypts data during processing), customer-managed “lockbox” capabilities, and Microsoft Purview Customer Key (giving customers control over encryption keys) available via its Trust Center, alongside its Defending Your Data commitment to challenge unlawful data access requests.
Strengthening Cybersecurity Posture And Compliance
Acknowledging persistent cyber threats from state actors, framed by its experience providing over $500 million in aid and technical support to Ukraine since the war began, Microsoft is appointing a new Deputy CISO specifically for Europe.
This role will focus on ensuring compliance with key EU regulations like DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act), NIS 2 (Network and Information Systems Directive), and the CRA (Cyber Resilience Act). Smith noted Microsoft believes “the CRA will reshape the regulatory landscape as a new gold standard for cybersecurity, much as the GDPR did for privacy.”
The company plans dedicated resources for CRA compliance and will engage independent auditors to verify its commitments. This focus comes as the EU AI Act sees phased enforcement, with initial bans effective since February 2 and rules for general-purpose AI models coming online August 2, presenting a complex regulatory environment for tech providers.
Fostering Competition And Open Ecosystems
Microsoft’s final commitment centers on enhancing Europe’s economic competitiveness and supporting open development, guided by its AI Access Principles. The company stressed its Azure AI platform supports over 1,800 AI models, with a majority being open-source contributions from European-based developers like Mistral AI and Hugging Face, all accessible through public APIs.
It also reiterated its elimination of data transfer-out fees for customers migrating to other cloud providers. Providing concrete examples, Microsoft listed European organizations using its technologies: Factorial in Spain (HR automation), iGenius in Italy (AI for regulated sectors), Visma in Norway (business software), the Institute Curie in France (cancer research), UBS in Switzerland (banking), and Heineken in The Netherlands (employee productivity).
Smith concluded by reaffirming the company’s long-term view: “Our support for Europe has always been—and always will be—steadfast.”
