With a White House that loves nothing more than causing chaos around the world, Europeans are looking for stability. "As a company, we need to be a source of digital stability in this time of geopolitical volatility," explained Brad Smith, President of Microsoft.
Microsoft's European Commitments
European countries can indeed fear the worst from the Trump administration, which has temporarily suspended military and intelligence support to Ukraine. What will happen if tomorrow, American companies were ordered by Washington to stop providing their online services to the old continent?
Microsoft, the world leader in cloud computing—with the Azure platform and its data centers—works with many European countries on critical infrastructure. Europe has the desire to gain sovereignty digital, but for the moment it is still impossible to completely do without the services of the American giants.
In order to ease tensions, and also to avoid losing too many customers, Microsoft is making several "digital commitments." The company will oppose any government injunction aimed at interrupting its cloud services to European customers — including by taking legal action.
The group will also place its cloud services under the supervision of a board of directors based in Europe; It will ensure that its services operate within the framework of European law, the principles of which are increasingly moving away from the deregulation orchestrated by the new administration. Microsoft also promises to strengthen its European investments in cloud and AI: the company announces a 40% increase in the capacity of its data centers in Europe over the next two years.
This represents "tens of billions of dollars per year" for the establishment of these data centers. There is no question of withdrawing or doing less for European customers. Brad Smith explains that despite Despite the Trump administration's chin-jerking, there is a "strong consensus" that American digital technologies should continue to flow into Europe.
Source: Microsoft
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