Microsoft today announced a new wave of sovereignty capabilities for Europe and Switzerland, including expanded AI services within the EU Data Boundary, and enhanced infrastructure options for private cloud deployments.
The capabilities address growing demand from governments, healthcare providers, financial institutions, and enterprises seeking to harness cloud and AI innovation while maintaining full control over data location and operations.
“With our Swiss datacenters and comprehensive sovereignty capabilities, we empower organizations to process sensitive data securely in the cloud—right here in Switzerland. Together, we are building the foundation for sustainable digital value creation and technological innovation, fully aligned with the needs of the Swiss ecosystem,” said Marc Holitscher, National Technology Officer, Microsoft Switzerland.
With this announcement, expanded features and services include:
- End-to-end AI data-processing in Europe as part of EU Data Boundary – including Switzerland
- Microsoft 365 Copilot expands in-country processing for Copilot Interactions to 15 countries by the end of 2026, including Switzerland
- Sovereign Landing Zones service expansion & disconnected operations for Azure Local
- Microsoft 365 Local general availability
- Increased maximum scale of Azure Local, support for external SAN storage, and support for the latest NVIDIA GPUs
- Expansion of our digital sovereignty partner ecosystem, enabling partners to deliver compliant, secure solutions
We recognize the need for continuous innovation and have already begun implementing many commitments. As of this month, we have already:
- Established a European board of directors, composed of European nationals, exclusively overseeing all datacenter operations in compliance with European law, thereby putting Europe’s cloud infrastructure into the hands of Europeans
- Embedded our digital resiliency commitments into all relevant government contracts
- Expanded open‑source investment through funding secure OSS projects & collaborations as well as publishing AI Access Principles that widen safe, responsible access to advanced AI, helping European developers, startups, and enterprises compete more effectively across the region
- Advanced our European Security Program by providing AI-driven intelligence & cybersecurity capacity building initiatives to strengthen Europe’s digital resilience against threat actors
Find more details here: Microsoft strengthens sovereign cloud capabilities with new services | Microsoft Azure Blog