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Microsoft’s top legal officer said the company would take the US government to court if necessary to protect European customers’ access to its services, as it tries to reassure Europe that Donald Trump will not be able to cut off critical technology.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said European leaders were shocked when Trump temporarily suspended military and intelligence support to Ukraine. The cloud computing and software giant on Wednesday responded with new commitments to European governments about “continuity of access”.
His comments come as the region grapples with uncertainty over the US president’s long-term commitment to the transatlantic security alliance — and whether he could block access to American technology as leverage in wider negotiations with the bloc.
“We as a company need to be a source of digital stability during a period of geopolitical volatility,” said Smith, who is also Microsoft’s vice-chair and top lawyer.
Microsoft’s new pledge includes five “digital commitments” to Europe. The Big Tech group said it would contest any government order to cease cloud services to European customers, including through the courts.
It also promised to have its cloud computing service in the continent overseen by a European board of directors and operating under European law.
The company is planning to boost its European cloud and artificial intelligence operations by increasing its data centre capacity in Europe by 40 per cent over the next two years, expanding operations in 16 countries.
It expected to spend “tens of billions of dollars” a year on European data centres, Smith said, amid recent speculation that the company was pulling back on some of these investments.
The Seattle-based company is the first large American tech business to proactively try to reassure European customers amid escalating trade tensions and calls for more European tech sovereignty, including demands to exclude American companies from public contracts.
Trump has fuelled anxiety among European governments and companies over privacy and data access — and even prompted concerns that the US could suspend or block the operations of American tech companies in Europe.
Smith said a suspension was unlikely. “There is a strong consensus in Washington that wants to see [American] digital technology flow to Europe.”
But he acknowledged the topic had been on the mind of European leaders, especially after Trump’s temporary suspension of military and intelligence support to Kyiv.
“They asked themselves about how they’re getting their defence and security protection more broadly,” Smith said. “I think it’s therefore important for us to make clear that Europe can count on us.”
Microsoft said it would include in its contracts a legal commitment to contest any order from a government outside Europe that would disrupt its cloud operations on the continent.
Asked about a potential blowback of the announcement in the US, Smith said it was his “job to worry about everything” but that Microsoft had “a long track record of going to court against multiple administrations when the need has arisen”.
The size of the European market, which makes up more than a quarter of Microsoft’s business, meant it was “indispensable for us that we sustain trust among countries and governments in our technology”, Smith said.