Microsoft has vowed to protect its operations in Europe, amid growing concerns about relying on American technology under US President Donald Trump.

To ease these concerns, Microsoft’s vice chair and President Brad Smith announced five digital commitments to Europe, which included commitments to European governments about “continuity of access”, which was an effort to reassure Europe that Donald Trump will not be able to cut off critical technology.

It comes after official data showed that the US economy shrank in the first three months of the year, which has triggered fears of an American recession and a global economic slowdown.

Microsoft’s latest quarterly results however showed that the tech giant remained relatively immune to the current economic turmoil.

European Commitments

So what exactly is Microsoft promising to safeguard its European operations from outside political influence?

Brad Smith wrote in the blog post that Microsoft’s “economic reliance on Europe has always run deep. We recognise 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. Our support for Europe has always been – and always will be – steadfast.”

“In a time of geopolitical volatility, we are committed to providing digital stability,” he wrote.

“That is why today Microsoft is announcing five digital commitments to Europe,” he wrote. “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.”

Smith said Microsoft believes in trans-Atlantic ties that promote mutual economic growth and prosperity, and was “pleased the Trump administration and the European Union recently agreed to suspend further tariff escalation while they seek to negotiate a reciprocal trade agreement.”

“We hope that successful talks can resolve tariff issues and reduce non-tariff barriers, consistent with the recommendations in the recent Draghi report,” he added.

Data centre expansion

Microsoft said its five commitments to Europe were as follows: to build a broad AI and cloud ecosystem in Europe; uphold Europe’s digital resilience even when there is geopolitical volatility; continue to protect the privacy of European data; to always help protect and defend Europe’s cybersecurity; and finally to help strengthen Europe’s economic competitiveness, including for open source.

To this end Microsoft announced plans to increase its European data centre capacity by 40 percent over the next two years by expanding data centre operations in 16 European countries, that will be subject to European laws and regulations.

The tech giant also promised to have its cloud computing service in the continent overseen by a European board of directors.

“When combined with our recent construction, the plans we’re announcing today will more than double our European data centre capacity between 2023 and 2027,” Smith wrote. “It will result in cloud operations in more than 200 data centres across the continent.”

Smith also stated that these will be sovereign cloud data centres, as the tech giant partners with local organisations, including a venture with Capgemini and Orange in France call Bleu.

In Germany, a similar sovereign cloud initiative is underway through a partnership between Microsoft, SAP, and Arvato Systems.

Protection from Trump

Brad Smith, in an interview with the Financial Times, said Microsoft would take the US government to court if necessary to protect European customers’ access to its services, as it tries to reassure Europe that Donald Trump will not be able to cut off critical technology.

Brad Smith reportedly said European leaders were shocked when Trump temporarily suspended military and intelligence support to Ukraine.

Microsoft therefore responded with the above commitments to European governments about “continuity of access”.

“We as a company need to be a source of digital stability during a period of geopolitical volatility,” Smith, who is also Microsoft’s vice-chair and top lawyer, told the Financial Times.

The Seattle-based company is the first large American tech business to proactively try to reassure European customers amid escalating trade tensions and calls for more European tech sovereignty, including demands to exclude American companies from public contracts.

Smith said a US suspension of European systems was unlikely. “There is a strong consensus in Washington that wants to see [American] digital technology flow to Europe.”

But he reportedly added: “I think that there are a number of leaders in governments in Europe that have been jarred when the US administration suspended intelligence and military support to Ukraine.”

“And so they asked themselves about how they’re getting their defence and security protection more broadly. And I think it’s therefore important for us to make clear that Europe can count on us, including in the cyber security space.”

Microsoft said it would include in its contracts a legal commitment to contest any order from a government outside Europe that would disrupt its cloud operations on the continent.

Asked about a potential blowback of the announcement in the US, Smith said it was his “job to worry about everything” but that Microsoft had “a long track record of going to court against multiple administrations when the need has arisen”.

The size of the European market, which makes up more than a quarter of Microsoft’s business, meant it was “indispensable for us that we sustain trust among countries and governments in our technology”, Smith was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.