Microsoft to establish its first datacenter region in Taiwan as a part of its “Reimagine Taiwan” initiative
Microsoft has announced plans to establish its first data center cloud region in Taiwan, marking its largest investment yet in the country. No dates were mentioned, but it is understood that the new region will launch with multiple Availability Zones, which for Microsoft represents standalone data centers with independent power, network, and cooling for additional tolerance to failures. Microsoft will accelerate digital transformation and innovation in Taiwan through access to secure enterprise cloud services, expansion of Taiwan’s Azure engineering group and local talent development for over 200,000 people.
“Technology has a critical role to play in supporting economic recovery and opportunity everywhere. Microsoft is committed to fostering local innovation to support digital transformation across the public and private sectors in Taiwan. Our new investment in Taiwan reflects our faith in its strong heritage of hardware and software integration. With Taiwan’s expertise in hardware manufacturing and the new datacenter region, we look forward to greater transformation, advancing what is possible with 5G, AI and IoT capabilities spanning the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge,” said Jean-Phillippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.
The new investment adds to Microsoft’s significant and recent investments in Taiwan, including the IoT Innovation Center, AI Research and Development Center, Startup Accelerator and the IoT Center of Excellence. Today’s announcement represents a new commitment in Microsoft’s more than 30-year history in Taiwan to fuel new growth that will accelerate digital transformation of Taiwan’s public and private sectors, helping customers to reimagine their future by providing access to highly secured enterprise-grade cloud services. In addition, Microsoft’s ambitious new skilling plan will help to cultivate and groom tech talent, increasing future employability opportunities for the people of Taiwan. According to a recent IDC study*, over the next four years, Microsoft, its ecosystem and cloud customers together will generate more than $10 billion in new revenue and will add over 30,000 jobs to the Taiwan economy.