Consists of datacenter operations in 16 nations and Digital Resilience Dedication.
Forty-two years in the past, Microsoft launched the very first model of Microsoft Phrase. It was a serious milestone within the firm’s journey to boost individuals’s productiveness by way of innovation. It additionally marked the younger and rising firm’s first large step in Europe with the primary Microsoft product localized in a number of European languages, beginning with German and French.
Since then, our financial reliance on Europe has all the time run deep. We acknowledge that our enterprise is critically depending on sustaining the belief of consumers, nations, and governments throughout Europe. We respect European values, adjust to European legal guidelines, and actively defend Europe’s cybersecurity. Our help for Europe has all the time been–and all the time will likely be–steadfast.
In a time of geopolitical volatility, we’re dedicated to offering digital stability. That’s the reason in the present day Microsoft is saying 5 digital commitments to Europe. These begin with an enlargement of our cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe, aimed toward enabling each nation to completely use these applied sciences to strengthen their financial competitiveness. And so they embrace a promise to uphold Europe’s digital resilience no matter geopolitical and commerce volatility.
As a multinational firm, we imagine in trans-Atlantic ties that promote mutual financial development and prosperity. We had been happy the Trump administration and the European Union just lately agreed to droop additional tariff escalation whereas they search to barter a reciprocal commerce settlement. We hope that profitable talks can resolve tariff points and scale back non-tariff obstacles, in step with the suggestions within the latest Draghi report.
We are going to all the time be devoted to creating jobs, selling financial alternatives, and strengthening cybersecurity on either side of the Atlantic. The 5 commitments under, just like the very first European model of Microsoft Phrase, take our help for Europe one other step ahead.
1. We are going to assist construct a broad AI and cloud ecosystem throughout Europe
We acknowledge that European nations need and wish a world class and broad AI and cloud ecosystem. At the moment, we’re saying plans to extend our European datacenter capability by 40% over the subsequent two years. We’re increasing datacenter operations in 16 European nations. When mixed with our latest development, the plans we’re saying in the present day will greater than double our European datacenter capability between 2023 and 2027. It would lead to cloud operations in additional than 200 datacenters throughout the continent.
This enlargement will play an vital position in boosting Europe’s financial development and competitiveness. We imagine that broad AI diffusion will likely be one of the crucial vital drivers of innovation and productiveness development over the subsequent decade. Like electrical energy and different general-purpose applied sciences previously, AI and cloud datacenters signify the subsequent stage of industrialization. They’re creating real-world capabilities to gas enterprise and manufacturing innovation, run nationwide well being programs, allow safe authorities providers, and help digital instruments in schooling—all whereas protecting knowledge and operations near dwelling, topic to European legal guidelines and laws.
Public cloud datacenters
Our public cloud datacenters are a basis for the diversified cloud ecosystem we’re dedicated to supporting throughout Europe. This contains the Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty, a package deal of applied sciences and configurations to assist governments and different clients run on Azure in our public cloud datacenters with higher management over knowledge location, encryption, and administrative entry.
Sovereign cloud datacenters
A second facet of our diversified strategy includes sovereign cloud datacenters. In France, Microsoft has partnered with Capgemini and Orange, who fashioned a three way partnership named Bleu. Designed as a “cloud de confiance” (trusted cloud) platform, Bleu provides a broad vary of Microsoft Azure cloud providers and Microsoft 365 productiveness instruments operated below French management. In Germany, the same sovereign cloud initiative is underway by way of a partnership between Microsoft, SAP, and Arvato Techniques (a Bertelsmann IT subsidiary). This effort, by way of SAP’s subsidiary, Delos Cloud GmbH, is making a sovereign cloud platform for the German public sector, hosted in German datacenters and operated by German personnel.
Assist for European cloud suppliers
A 3rd facet of our work includes our collaboration with European cloud suppliers to supply Microsoft purposes and providers on their native cloud infrastructure. This partnership gives these European suppliers with the chance to run Microsoft purposes on extra favorable phrases than we make out there to Amazon and Google. Moreover, we’re creating new know-how and licensing options tailor-made for these European suppliers and the markets they serve.
Rising choices
Given latest geopolitical volatility, we acknowledge that European governments possible will contemplate extra choices. A few of these might contain public financing to help European home-grown choices. We acknowledge the significance of a diversified know-how ecosystem, and we’re dedicated to collaborating with European contributors throughout the tech ecosystem.
Respect for European legal guidelines
Microsoft is investing tens of billions of {dollars} yearly in increasing its datacenters throughout Europe. These investments aren’t on wheels. They’re everlasting buildings and topic to native legal guidelines, laws, and governments. Like each citizen and firm, we don’t all the time agree with each coverage of each authorities. However even once we’ve misplaced instances in European courts, Microsoft has lengthy revered and complied with European legal guidelines.
We perceive that European legal guidelines apply to our enterprise practices in Europe, simply as native legal guidelines apply to native practices in the US and comparable legal guidelines apply elsewhere on the earth. This contains European competitors regulation and the Digital Markets Act, amongst others. We’re dedicated not solely to constructing digital infrastructure for Europe, however to respecting the position that legal guidelines throughout Europe play in regulating our services.
2. We are going to uphold Europe’s digital resilience even when there may be geopolitical volatility
By constructing a European cloud for Europe, Microsoft is dedicated to serving to Europe navigate the unsure geopolitical and commerce surroundings and higher handle threat by strengthening the continent’s digital resilience. We are going to all the time attempt to be a voice of purpose that promotes mutual alternatives and secure ties throughout the Atlantic. We in truth imagine that even amidst present commerce and tariff disputes, there’s a robust consensus in Washington supporting the sustained stream of digital providers from the US to Europe.
We are also listening intently to the views of European governments and leaders. We acknowledge that European nations, like nations in all places, have to have rock-solid confidence within the digital infrastructure on which they rely. To make sure this confidence, we are going to take the next three steps:
A European cloud for Europe
Microsoft is headquartered in the US, however we offer cloud providers to Europe by way of company entities headquartered in Europe. To additional cement the nexus between Microsoft and Europe, going ahead our European datacenter operations and their boards will likely be overseen by a European board of administrators that consists solely of European nationals and operates below European regulation.
A Digital Resilience Dedication
Within the unlikely occasion we’re ever ordered by any authorities wherever on the earth to droop or stop cloud operations in Europe, we’re committing that Microsoft will promptly and vigorously contest such a measure utilizing all authorized avenues out there, together with by pursuing litigation in courtroom. By together with a brand new European Digital Resilience Dedication in all of our contracts with European nationwide governments and the European Fee, we are going to make this dedication legally binding on Microsoft Company and all its subsidiaries.
Microsoft has a demonstrated historical past of pursuing litigation when that has been wanted to guard the rights of our clients and different stakeholders. This contains 4 lawsuits we filed in opposition to the U.S. Govt Department throughout President Obama’s tenure, together with to guard the privateness of our clients’ knowledge in the US and Europe. It additionally included, throughout President Trump’s first time period, a profitable determination earlier than the U.S. Supreme Courtroom to uphold the rights of staff who’re immigrants. When needed, we’re ready to go to courtroom.
We’re assured of our authorized rights to make sure steady operation of our datacenters in Europe. And we’re ready to again this confidence with our contractual commitments to European governments.
Enterprise continuity partnerships
Lastly, we are going to designate and depend on European companions with contingency preparations for operational continuity within the unlikely occasion Microsoft had been ever required by a courtroom to droop providers. We’re already enabling our companions in France and Germany to do that for the Bleu and Delos datacenters, and we are going to pursue preparations for our public cloud datacenters in Europe. We are going to retailer back-up copies of our code in a safe repository in Switzerland, and we are going to present our European companions with the authorized rights wanted to entry and use this code if wanted for this function.
3. We are going to proceed to guard the privateness of European knowledge
Microsoft has lengthy been on the forefront in designing and implementing know-how options to guard buyer knowledge. We allow clients to regulate the place their knowledge is saved and processed, how it’s encrypted and secured, and when Microsoft can entry it. We provide clients strong capabilities throughout the complete cloud stack from infrastructure to platform to software program as a service, from Azure to Microsoft 365 to Dynamics 365. We again our technical options with robust contractual commitments and, as famous above, a demonstrated historical past of going to courtroom on behalf of our clients.
The EU knowledge boundary mission
Reflecting our persevering with dedication to innovation, we just lately completed implementing our EU Knowledge Boundary mission. This provides European clients the flexibility to have their knowledge saved and processed in Europe. Since January 2024, our European business and public sector clients have been capable of retailer and course of their knowledge and private identifiers for Microsoft core cloud providers—together with Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Energy Platform, and Azure providers—throughout the EU and EFTA areas. Three months in the past, Microsoft accomplished the mission by extending the EU Knowledge Boundary to incorporate skilled providers knowledge from technical help interactions. And, critically, we make these options out there in all our European cloud areas and all through our tech stack, from IaaS, to PaaS, to SaaS, together with M365 Copilot.
Further safety and encryption choices
Along with the EU Knowledge Boundary, we offer European clients with a number of choices for securing and encrypting their knowledge. Our Confidential Compute choices in Azure eradicate the flexibility of third events—together with Microsoft—to entry buyer knowledge by making certain knowledge is processed inside a trusted surroundings the client alone controls. We allow clients to create a “lockbox” round their knowledge throughout Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365 by giving them the flexibility to assessment and approve earlier than Microsoft accesses their knowledge for buyer and repair help operations. We additionally allow clients to safe their knowledge with encryption keys that they, not Microsoft, management with Azure Key Vault and Microsoft Purview Buyer Key. Our Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty provides clients a spread of different instruments to safe knowledge, shield in opposition to unauthorized entry, and fulfill authorized necessities.
A powerful authorized monitor file
Along with technical measures, we are going to proceed our combat to guard the rights of European clients. Microsoft has a robust monitor file of going to courtroom within the uncommon situations that we have to shield European knowledge from unauthorized entry. We’ve persistently fought authorized calls for that battle with European regulation and have taken our challenges all the way in which to the Supreme Courtroom of the US. In 2018, as a direct results of litigation Microsoft introduced on behalf of our European clients, the U.S. Congress enacted laws that ensures our proper to object to U.S. regulation enforcement calls for to entry European knowledge that battle with EU regulation.
We codified our promise to guard our European clients’ knowledge with our Defending Your Knowledge dedication, during which we agreed to problem any authorities demand for EU public sector or enterprise buyer knowledge the place we now have a authorized foundation for doing so. We’ve included that dedication in our buyer contracts and backed it up with a promise to compensate clients if we disclose their knowledge in violation of EU regulation.
New alternatives for innovation
At the moment we decide to additional strengthen and develop options that permit European clients to regulate and shield their knowledge. We’re embarking on new steps to take heed to and seek the advice of with European clients to construct on what already is probably the most full, widest vary of privateness, safety, and sovereignty options that any cloud providers supplier now provides to clients in Europe. We stay up for sharing within the coming months the conclusions that emerge and the brand new steps we resolve to take.
For extra particulars about Microsoft’s knowledge safety and compliance packages, see the Microsoft Belief Middle.
4. We are going to all the time assist shield and defend Europe’s cybersecurity
As battle erupted in 2022, Microsoft instantly helped evacuate Ukraine’s important knowledge and know-how providers to our datacenters throughout Europe. This transfer ensured Ukraine’s continued digital operation outdoors the vary of cruise missile and air assaults. In some ways, this illustrates the position {that a} broad community of datacenters performs in supporting not solely digital however broader resilience, each for a rustic and a continent.
Uninterrupted, world-class cybersecurity safety
Along with safeguarding the nation’s knowledge, we instantly helped Ukraine’s officers and residents defend their nation from Russian cyberattacks. For the reason that begin of the battle, Microsoft has offered greater than $500 million of free know-how and monetary help to Ukraine and has sustained our substantial help to today. With out interruption, we now have offered cybersecurity help to NATO, Ukraine, and different European governments, together with by sharing cybersecurity menace intelligence, defending elections, and disrupting assaults in opposition to European governments, firms, and residents.
New measures to guard in opposition to new threats
Greater than three years for the reason that begin of the battle in Ukraine, European governments and nations confront ongoing cyberattacks from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. As these threats develop in quantity and class, robust cybersecurity safety and coordination are extra vital than ever, as is the flexibility to reply quickly to regional calls for. That’s the reason in the present day we’re saying the next cybersecurity steps, which will likely be adopted by extra bulletins within the coming weeks.
A brand new Deputy CISO for Europe
At the moment, our Chief Data Safety Officer (CISO) Igor Tsyganskiy introduced that we’re appointing a brand new Deputy CISO for Europe as a part of the Microsoft Cybersecurity Governance Council. This senior govt will likely be devoted to Microsoft’s safety tasks in Europe. Final yr we created this council, consisting of our International CISO and Deputy Chief Data Safety Officers (Deputy CISOs) representing every of our know-how providers. This Council oversees the corporate’s cyber dangers, defenses, and compliance throughout areas and domains.
The appointment of a Deputy CISO for Europe displays the significance and world affect of EU cybersecurity laws and the corporate’s dedication to assembly and exceeding these expectations to prioritize cybersecurity throughout the area. This new place will report on to Microsoft’s CISO. The Deputy CISO for Europe will likely be accountable for compliance with present and rising cybersecurity laws in Europe, together with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the NIS 2 Directive, and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). These legal guidelines will show transformative not solely in EU markets, however worldwide, and Microsoft is actively engaged in making ready for what lies forward.
New safety steps below the Cyber Resilience Act
We imagine the CRA will reshape the regulatory panorama as a brand new gold commonplace for cybersecurity, a lot because the GDPR did for privateness. We are going to construct on the work of our Safe Future Initiative and dedicate extra sources to adjust to the CRA. As its deadlines strategy, we stay up for persevering with our years of engagement with the European Fee, business companions, and clients on CRA implementation efforts. We’re dedicated to our position as a member of the European Fee’s Knowledgeable Group on Cybersecurity of Merchandise with Digital Components.
To that finish, Microsoft will proceed to interact with stakeholders throughout a spread of CRA matters. These will embrace incident and vulnerability reporting, safety by design and default, cybersecurity greatest practices and bettering open-source safety and attestation. We are going to share our improvements that help implementing the CRA important safety necessities to assist European financial operators additionally put together for CRA compliance.
Safety is the muse of belief. To maintain that belief, we are going to interact an impartial auditor to confirm and validate our commitments to Europe. We all know that individuals will solely use know-how that they belief, which is why we’re dedicating sources to speed up our compliance with the CRA and committing to impartial validation.
5. We are going to assist strengthen Europe’s financial competitiveness, together with for open supply
Our AI Entry Ideas
We acknowledge the significance of making certain open entry to our AI and cloud platform and infrastructure throughout Europe, together with for open-source growth. That’s the reason we introduced final yr a set of AI Entry Ideas and we are going to introduce new enhancements to those commitments within the coming months.
Open entry throughout Europe
These rules have ensured that our Azure AI platform and infrastructure is open to a wide range of enterprise fashions—each open-source and proprietary. We now host greater than 1,800 AI fashions. Most of those fashions are open-source fashions, similar to these from European-based AI builders Mistral and Hugging Face. And they’re all out there by way of public APIs to facilitate interoperability. Which means that clients can select which fashions to make use of and the place to construct their AI-powered options: on Azure, in one other public cloud, or in their very own datacenter. Lastly, we allow clients to export and switch their knowledge. Final yr we eradicated charges for the switch of information when clients select to modify to a different cloud supplier.
A basis for European competitiveness
Over the previous yr, we now have seen European startups, established companies, and different organizations reap the benefits of the open entry to fashions and instruments that we offer to innovate, develop, and compete within the new AI economic system. This contains know-how startups similar to Factorial in Spain to construct AI-driven automation for HR professionals, iGenius in Italy to develop AI options for regulated industries, and Visma in Norway to offer AI options for firms in accounting, payroll, invoicing, and past. And it contains the Institute Curie in France to analysis new therapies for most cancers, UBS in Switzerland to create the way forward for banking, and Heineken in The Netherlands to spice up worker productiveness.
Constructing European infrastructure for Europe’s future
We acknowledge that Microsoft should always stay targeted on incomes and sustaining our “license to function” in every nation throughout Europe. With datacenters and digital know-how, this begins with every local people and nation and contains officers with continental-wide tasks.
Since we first introduced the primary model of Microsoft Phrase to Europe 42 years in the past, digital know-how has modified the methods individuals work many instances over. But as we glance ahead, we imagine the second quarter of the 21st century might deliver even greater adjustments forward. Synthetic intelligence provides what might develop into probably the most highly effective instrument for individuals within the historical past of humanity. And like all instruments, there will likely be some who will search to show it right into a weapon.
Greater than ever, it is going to be important for us to assist Europe harness the ability of this new know-how to strengthen its competitiveness. We might want to companion with smaller and bigger firms alike. We might want to help governments, non-profit organizations, and open-source builders throughout the continent. And we might want to hear intently to European leaders, respect European values, and cling to European legal guidelines. We’re dedicated to doing all this stuff nicely.
As we celebrated Microsoft’s 50th birthday earlier this month, we acknowledged that our longstanding presence in Europe has been a lynchpin of our success. Europe has handled us nicely. Our help for Europe has all the time been—and all the time will likely be—steadfast.