Recently, Microsoft has promised its customers in Europe about a much greater sovereignty with the new cloud offerings. However, there are speculations about the true nature of their sovereignty and how much truth there is in the company’s statement. In this article, we will be decoding everything about the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud and also offer a brief insight into this news up close. So, keep reading the article till the end to decode everything about the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud.
What is the News?
Recently, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella has attempted to address the entire all European customers about data protection while he was on his tour to Amesterdam, which was part of Microsoft’s AI tour. During the same time, he has also announced that there will be additional features, and this is especially for increasing the digital sovereignty of companies across the country of Europe. In fact, the US tech giant has said that the digital sovereignty model will empower individuals and institutions to work independently, securely, and autonomously. Definitely one of the most significant statements that has been made by the US tech giant
According to Microsoft, new features will extend sovereignty to all European organizations using the public cloud while opening up new options for running Microsoft services in sovereign private cloud environments. The Microsoft Sovereign Cloud combines productivity, security, and cloud solutions to give European companies more control.
What are the Offerings Proposed by Microsoft?
In the pursuit of Microsoft Sovereign Cloud, it has given some of the key offerings, which include:
Sovereign Public Cloud
The Sovereign Cloud will be offered to all European customers in all of Microsoft’s existing European data center regions. The package includes enterprise services such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Security, and the Power Platform. In the Sovereign Public Cloud, customer data will remain in Europe and be subject to European law, the software giant promises. Operation of and access to the cloud will be solely in the hands of European personnel.
Additionally, the Data Guardian feature will ensure that only Microsoft employees residing in Europe control remote access to these systems. Customers also have full control over the encryption of their data in the Microsoft Cloud.
Sovering Private Cloud
This is another offering related to the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud. Customers will be able to run critical collaboration and communications workloads on Azure Local. It also combines solutions, including Microsoft 365 Local and Microsoft’s productivity server softwar,e into an environment that can run entirely in the customer’s own data center.
Microsoft on Partnerships
Not onlydid the tech giant promised to offer some of the key cloud sovereignty to customers in the European region, but it has also forwarded its desire to work on partnerships and collaborate. The US provider plans to cooperate with national partner clouds such as Bleu in France and the Delos Cloud in Germany. There, customers will be able to access features from Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure in a standalone and independently operated environment.
What is More?
Well, the offerings do not end when the US giant is aimed at making Microsoft Sovereign Cloud. In fact, for external key management, Microsoft has also been working with the Aachen-based company Utimaco, among others. This is a joint solution which will enable Azure Managed HSM (Hardware Security Module) encryption. According to Microsoft, this allows customers to store their data in the cloud encrypted and generate, manage, and securely store the required keys themselves or through local partners.
In addition, with the help of an external key manager, which includes the Utimaco Enterprise Secure Key Manager (ESKM), European Microsoft customers can also generate keys according to the highest FIPS standards, the company promises. These are essentially secured by an integrated hardware security module, which will be obtained as one of the on-premises appliances or even as an on-service solution
Now that you have got a good understanding of the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud, head to the next section of the article to decode how Microsoft will be complying with Trump’s decree.
How does Microsoft Needs to Comply with Trump’s Decree?
A few weeks back, Microsoft came under fire when the US tech giant allegedly blocked the email account of Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court. The reason for this was an executive order sanctions decree by US President Donald Trump, who threatened penalties for anyone who supported Khan financially, materially, or technically. (Microsoft President Brad Smith has since denied that Microsoft cancelled Khan’s account, though a Microsoft representative did admit the account was disconnected.)
This instance has added further fuel to the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud, especially in Germany. More and more companies in Germany and Europe will be asking themselves to what extent their systems and data in the US hyperscaler clouds, which include AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, are still safe.
These are the questions which offer enough for the US cloud providers to be more anxious about their business interests in Europe. To counteract this, they are building independent and, in their view, sovereign infrastructures that are technically and organizationally separate from the rest of their public clouds. For example, AWS established a supposedly independent European governance structure for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud at the beginning of June 2025. This includes a dedicated Security Operations Center and the establishing of a new parent company. It was stated that this will be managed by citizens of European Union (EU) member states and will be subject to local legal requirements.
Conclusion
As the need for the Microsoft Sovereign Cloud increases and as per the company’s claims it will be quite an interesting journey to find out the truth to these statements. Additionally, the company will be offering the best of cloud services to its European customers. That’s all, folks. I hope the article will help you to get all the information you need.
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