- Microsoft has invested billions across Europe in a bid to increase EU data center capacity by 40%
- The company is also helping to region boost resilience amid ongoing geopolitical shakeups
- Microsoft declares it wants to earn the trust of Europeans through hard work
Amid ongoing accusations of anticompetitive behavior and antitrust investigations unravelling across at least six markets, Microsoft has given us an update on its European sovereignty work and the five core principles it set itself last year.
In 2025, the company declared it would build a stronger AI and cloud ecosystem in Europe, ensure digital resilience amid risky geopolitics, protect European privacy, strengthen regional cybersecurity and boost economic competitiveness – but how has it fared so far?
Per its own assessments, it seems Microsoft is making significant headway on its continential push as it strives to increase its European datacenter capacity by 40%.
Microsoft says things are looking good for it in Europe
Just within the past year, Microsoft has invested billions in new investments across Portugal (+$10 billion), Norway (+$6.2 billion) and the UK (+$30 billion), as well as expected existing data center footprints in Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Poloand and Switzerland.
Microsoft also noted that sovereignty means far more than data residency, acknowledging ongoing geopolitics and Europe's desire to stay connected even amid ongoing and rising tensions.
This is why, in government contracts, its Digital Resilience Commitment has become legally binding and why it's launched a partnership with Germany's Delos Cloud "to safeguard business continuity in Europe in times of crisis."
As well as its data privacy and cybersecurity efforts, Microsoft also claims to have contributed slightly less directly to European economic competitiveness by supporting local GitHub creators and launching a project to "collect high‑quality speech and text datasets for Europe’s underrepresented languages."
"Trust cannot be claimed," EMEA President Samer Abu-Ltaif and EMEA VP & Deputy General Counsel for Corporate External & Legal Affairs Jeff Bullwinkel concluded. "It needs to be earned through our actions, day by day."
