Microsoft to invest $1 billion in Poland

Microsoft has announced a new strategic partnership with Chmura Krajowa - Poland’s domestic cloud provider which was launched two years ago by PKO Bank Polski and the Polish Development Fund. The US technology giant plans to accelerate the country’s digital transformation by investing one billion dollars in the “Polish Digital Valley” and opening a new Microsoft datacenter region which is to provide cloud services to local start-ups, enterprises and public institutions. As expressed by Mark Loughran, General Manager of Microsoft Poland,

Poland is a country of talent, with well-known entrepreneurship and a high-level of education. Our role at Microsoft for almost 30 years has been to contribute to the digital development of the Polish society and to the economy with a strong local team combined with our global knowledge. Poland has the opportunity to be at the digital heart of Europe. This is why today we are announcing a partnership with Chmura Krajowa and the biggest investment in digital technology in Poland ever - of one billion dollars.

The seven-year long programme will also provide digital training opportunities for around 150,000 business employees, IT professionals, students, educators and citizens. The company aims to improve the employability of young people and increase competitiveness of Polish businesses and employees through a series of trainings, e-learning programmes, workshops and hackathons covering cloud computing, developing with AI and machine learning technologies, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Zbigniew Jagiełło, CEO of PKO Bank Polski, highlighted the importance of the partnership in the present economic climate:

This is another important step on the road to digitization and accelerating the development of the entire Polish economy. A special step in the face of irreversible changes that are taking place before our eyes in the socio-economic ecosystem. Digital transformation is a great opportunity to deal with the current crisis faster and more effectively. Cloud technology is the future that we want to pursue today.

The new datacenter region will expand Microsoft’s global footprint of cloud regions spanning 140 countries.