Following the recent announcements regarding a new data center region in Austria and an increased presence in Brazil, Microsoft has now revealed its intentions to establish a new region in Taiwan. This addition will strengthen its current operations in East Asia, where the company already maintains data centers in China (through 21Vianet), Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. With this latest development, Microsoft’s global cloud region count will reach a total of 66.

Echoing its recent Brazilian expansion, Microsoft has also committed to delivering digital skills training to over 200,000 individuals in Taiwan by the year 2024. Furthermore, the company is expanding its Taiwan-based Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure engineering team. These initiatives complement existing investments in Taiwanese IoT and AI research, as well as the startup accelerator program it operates within the country.

“This new investment in Taiwan demonstrates our confidence in the country’s robust history of combining hardware and software expertise,” stated Jean-Phillippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President of Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations. “Leveraging Taiwan’s proficiency in hardware production and the capabilities of the new data center region, we anticipate significant advancements and expanded possibilities with 5G, AI, and IoT technologies across both the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge.”

The forthcoming region will provide access to the fundamental Microsoft Azure services, alongside support for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and the Power Platform. This approach is consistent with Microsoft’s standard strategy for launching its new regions. As with the majority of Microsoft’s new data center regions, this location will also incorporate multiple availability zones.