The view from Warsaw: Microsoft’s support for trans-Atlantic investment, trade, and economic growth

This morning, I stood in Warsaw with Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, and announced Microsoft’s latest cloud and AI infrastructure investment in Europe. Building on our initial billion-dollar investment to launch a Polish cloud region in 2023, I announced that Microsoft will spend another $700 million by the middle of next year to expand our computing capacity in the country. And we will deepen our work with Polish National Defense to strengthen Poland’s cybersecurity, including by working together on the development of AI competencies and emerging digital technologies, including new AI and quantum breakthroughs. 

This marks the latest critical step for Microsoft’s business, economic, and political relationships in Poland – and in Europe as a whole.  

During the past 16 months, we have announced more than $20 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure investments that represent an important part of our datacenter expansion across 15 European countries. Today’s investment in Poland builds on the integrated supply chain we are building with manufacturers across the EU. It calls on suppliers that are manufacturing critical components not only in Poland but in Italy, France, Germany, Finland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It also includes components manufactured and exported from Indiana in the United States. It’s the type of investment that creates jobs and fosters economic growth throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. 

Promoting Trans-Atlantic Investment, Trade, and Economic Growth 

The American technology sector is creating world-leading AI technology and is focused on being a trusted “partner of choice” around the world. And European policy leaders are focused on mobilizing more capital and increasing productivity by “closing the innovation gap.” Even in a time of fragmenting geopolitics, today’s announcement illustrates that these two technology ambitions are more aligned than divergent.  

In multiple ways, our investment in Poland puts both these goals into practice. It demonstrates how vastly the technology sector has changed since I first joined Microsoft as an employee in Paris more than 31 years ago. While we develop and provide world-leading technology products and services globally, we now support these with enormous national investments in infrastructure and large numbers of local employees. More than ever, technology requires coordinated investments that connect countries and span oceans. 

Sustained Technology Support During a Decade of Crises 

Equally important, technology has become a lynchpin for national needs in times of crisis. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has aptly put recent history in perspective. As she highlighted, Europe faces a competitiveness challenge that comes as the third crisis of the 2020s, after the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.  

It’s worth reflecting on the critical role of technology in helping to support the responses needed for each of these crises. 

Five years ago this month, the first pandemic in a century literally started to shut doors around the world. At Microsoft, our employees and partners used new video and productivity technology like Teams to keep the economy moving forward in every corner of Europe. In just days, businesses, schools, universities, hospitals, and governments sustain their operations by moving online.  

Two years later, the Russian military invaded Ukraine. At Microsoft, we helped move Ukraine’s critical data and technology services to our datacenters across Europe, ensuring their continued operation outside the range of cruise missile and air attacks. And like several other technology companies, we immediately helped Ukraine’s officials and citizens defend their nation from Russian cyberattacks. As a company, we provided more than $250 million of free technology and financial assistance. And we have sustained this substantial support to this day. 

As Europe now launches a new “competitiveness compass,” technology will again play an indispensable role. Especially as working-age populations shrink and aging populations expand, economic growth and prosperity will depend more than ever on new technology. Productivity growth will require it. And the competitiveness of Europe’s many great industries and companies, large and small, will depend on their ability to hone their ongoing leadership in critical scientific domains and put their data to work. Across the continent, European institutions will need to harness the power of AI and the cloud. 

A Strong Foundation for Europe’s AI Transition 

AI is rapidly becoming what economists call a General Purpose Technology, or GPT. In contrast to single-purpose technologies, GPTs boost innovation and productivity across the entire economy. Throughout history, transformative GPTs like ironworking, electricity, machine tooling, computer chips, and software have not only driven economic growth but sparked new discoveries and inventions, changing the way we live and work.  

The good news is that the foundation for Europe’s AI transition is already being laid. Industry leaders are investing tens of billions to construct state-of-the-art infrastructure to help Europe access, adopt, and innovate on the world’s most advanced cloud and AI technology. And companies like Microsoft are developing and offering innovative AI tools and vital services that are ready for use by every sector of every European economy.  

As a company, we are developing and operating our AI infrastructure and platform services with a constant focus on Europe’s needs. This is one reason we announced our AI Access Principles in Barcelona a year ago. These eleven principles govern our operations and are designed to ensure that Microsoft’s AI infrastructure is accessible, open, and available on fair terms to the entire European economy.  

As we’ve put these principles into practice, we’ve recognized the vital role of open-source software and AI models for European researchers, start-ups, businesses, and governments. We’ve launched the Azure AI Foundry, a platform designed to help developers build, run, and optimize AI-driven applications. The Foundry supports flexible choices and now supports more than 1,800 AI models, from OpenAI’s o3-mini to open-source models like Llama, Mistral, and others, all giving Europe the tools it needs to stay competitive in the fast-moving AI landscape. European developers can then use our Models as a Service offering to distribute their products instantly to our datacenters around the world, so customers can call on them for AI-powered applications. 

We also recognize that technology innovation requires investments in people. That’s why we’re investing in our AI Skilling Initiative across Europe. We’re partnering with government, education, industry, and civil society to help bring AI skills to users, developers, and organizational leaders. Through our strategic partnerships, we have already helped to skill 2.9 million Europeans and are on track to engage 8 million people by the end of the year. 

Technology Collaboration Built on Interdependence 

We readily recognize that European leaders sometimes worry about becoming overly dependent on American technology. We appreciate that such questions are both natural and legitimate. We take them seriously and work hard to address them, including by understanding European values, supporting European needs, and adapting to European rules.  

Along the way, we often point to a second technology dimension that too easily is overlooked. The reality is that this dependence runs both ways.  

As a company, we’re pouring tens of billions of dollars of investment into acquiring land, constructing massive buildings, bringing additional electricity to the grid, and installing the world’s most advanced computing, networking, liquid cooling, and other technology.  

These datacenters are not built on wheels.  

Once constructed, these billions of dollars in infrastructure are permanent and subject to local laws, regulations, and governments. Time inevitably brings changes. It’s imperative as a company that we constantly remain focused on earning and sustaining our “license to operate” within each country. With datacenters, this starts with each local community and runs up to officials with EU-wide responsibilities. Our economic dependence on Europe runs deep. 

As Microsoft celebrates its 50th birthday less than two months from now, we look back at more than four decades of European presence and support. As a company, we’ve seen many things change. And we ourselves have changed. We’ve put down deep roots, with employees and families in communities and countries across the continent.  

But even amid constant change, one thing has been constant. Our support for Europe has been not only steady but steadfast.  

This article was first published on 17 February by Microsoft.