Microsoft promised today to build out its data center capacity on European soil in a bid to be the “voice of reason” in tense U.S.-EU relations.
The company, one of the leading cloud providers through its Microsoft Azure service, said it plans to expand its European data center capacity by 40 percent over the next two years and expand operations in 16 European countries.
The plans are a welcome commitment for the EU. The European Commission has said it wants to triple the EU’s data center capacity over the next five to seven years, as part of a larger plan to keep up in the global artificial intelligence race.
Training AI models requires vast amounts of computer power and data storage capacity.
Microsoft dispatched its president, Brad Smith, to Brussels to unveil the plans. He struck a conciliatory tone at a time when the U.S. administration and other U.S. tech executives have launched a full-frontal attack on some of the EU’s tech rulebooks.
“We understand that European laws apply to our business practices in Europe, just as local laws apply to local practices in the United States,” Smith said in a blog post, referring to European competition law and the EU’s new digital competition rulebook, the Digital Markets Act.
Smith added that Microsoft wants to be a “voice of reason,” promoting “stable” ties across the Atlantic.
Microsoft’s pitch could be on a collision course with a growing movement pushing for a European tech infrastructure, and growing calls by European governments to build a sovereign cloud.
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