Microsoft Upgrades Cloud For EU Data Sovereignty

(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corporation said that it has upgraded its cloud infrastructure so that customers in the European Union can store and process personal data within the bloc.

The change applies to the Seattle-based company’s core cloud services including Azure, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and Dynamics 365, the company said in a statement on Thursday (January 11). 

Global technology companies have been under increasing pressure from regulators within the EU to provide so-called sovereign cloud services, which ensure that personal data is not only stored locally but also processed locally. 

Microsoft said that its EU Data Boundary offering goes “beyond European compliance requirements.” While the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation allow companies to send personal data outside of the EU, the rules require that businesses meet a series of safeguarding requirements. 

It follows similar sovereign cloud announcements from Amazon.com’s AWS and Oracle Corporation.