Microsoft's "Sovereign Cloud" launched to safeguard EU data within Europe

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Microsoft (MSFT.US) has begun to launch its so-called "Sovereign Cloud," a new cloud computing product aimed at European customers that keeps data on the European continent to comply with EU regulatory requirements while still providing the latest technologies, such as AI applications powered by large AI models like Copilot.

The new cloud computing products include Sovereign Public Cloud, Sovereign Private Cloud, and National Partner Clouds. The new cloud products launched by Microsoft aim to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Microsoft stated: "Sovereign Public Cloud ensures that customer data remains in Europe, complies with local European laws, and is operated and accessed by professionals from the European market, with encryption systems fully controlled by the customers. This feature is applicable to all customer workloads running in our European data center regions without any migration required."

The Sovereign Public Cloud newly launched by Microsoft in Europe is currently in the preview stage and is expected to be fully available in all European cloud computing business regions later this year.

The company added: "Microsoft's Sovereign Public Cloud builds a set of continuously evolving sovereign cloud computing capabilities that can be configured on demand to meet specific customer needs without sacrificing functionality or migrating to any dedicated data center."

National Partner Clouds operate as a collaboration platform between Microsoft and local cloud service providers. In France, Microsoft collaborates with the joint venture Bleu formed with Orange and Capgemini, where Bleu operates the "cloud de confiance" (French Trusted Cloud) for the French public sector, critical infrastructure providers, and essential service providers to meet SecNumCloud requirements. In Germany, Microsoft collaborates with Delos Cloud, a subsidiary of German software giant SAP (SAP.US).

Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini Group, stated: "The launch of Microsoft's Sovereign Cloud is a very critical moment, providing European regulators and industries with the necessary control, compliance guidelines, and innovation momentum in today's digital economy."

Other new features related to Sovereign Public Cloud include Data Guardian, Azure External Key Management, and Regulated Environment Management Service.

It is understood that Sovereign Private Cloud will provide Microsoft 365 Local, enabling European enterprises to run this AI application suite embedded with large AI models in their own data centers Some analysts believe that Microsoft's fundamental purpose in launching the "sovereign cloud" in continental Europe is to allow Microsoft to continue providing customers with the latest Azure cloud computing services and AI applications tied to Azure or the Microsoft Office flagship software, while also meeting the European Union's increasingly stringent data sovereignty, privacy compliance, and EU-specific cybersecurity requirements. This will enable Microsoft to maintain and actively expand its core strategic markets in the European public sector and EU-regulated industries.

Since the GDPR took effect in 2018, cross-border data transfers have been restricted, and regulators have emphasized that data must be governed by EU law and remain in local data centers. Microsoft's announcement of the official launch of the EU Data Boundary project in June 2025 is a response to this demand. The EU's digital policy explicitly states the need to "strengthen Europe's sovereignty in the cloud sector" and encourages public procurement to prioritize high-security sovereign cloud services. Furthermore, the EU's stricter cybersecurity (NIS2) and future AI regulatory frameworks require cloud providers to offer verifiable sovereign capabilities in operations, access control, encryption, and auditing