Paco Salcedo, president of Microsoft Spain, addresses technological geopolitics with the ease of an informal chat. During CTx 2026 in Seville, he explains why Europe should trust a U.S. company to manage its most sensitive data, modernize its administrations, and train its citizens in artificial intelligence. His argument is strong, although doubts remain about whether it is sufficient. Microsoft's response is clear: the company has evolved. Salcedo outlines five formal commitments to Europe, demonstrating an unusual level of transparency in the sector. He acknowledges concerns about technological sovereignty: “It is a legitimate concern.” What guarantees exist that a foreign company won't change the rules? Microsoft responds with a framework of safeguards: contracts that require the company to protect European data even against its own government, a European subsidiary with its own board that controls infrastructure on the continent, and tools that allow administrations to manage their encryption keys or maintain a local cloud replica, which can be disconnected in emergencies. “Data centers don’t have wheels,” Salcedo states. “This stays here.” A phrase that reassures and summarizes the relationship: Europe is negotiating with a company that possesses the infrastructure and talent, and now offers guarantees to remain the preferred partner of governments and businesses. The relationship is one of mutual necessity: Microsoft needs Europe as much as Europe, in its digital transformation, needs Microsoft. This balance shapes the conversation. Spain is key to this strategy. Salcedo presents it as a process already underway: the country is establishing itself as Microsoft's European hub, attracting talent and generating an ecosystem of 12,500 partners, 1,500 of them in Andalusia, multiplying the company's direct economic impact by eight. He cites Factorial, a Barcelona-based HR software startup that exceeds 100 million in revenue and has over 1,000 employees, as an example. “That’s the impact we seek,” he notes: companies that reinvent sectors with AI and expand internationally. Microsoft lays the foundation; others build on it. The recent agreement with the Junta de Andalucía is more than a regional contract: it is a prototype. More than 40,000 civil servants will receive productivity tools, the administration will be able to develop AI agents with security and sovereignty guarantees, and a training program will launch, starting with nearly 30,000 tourism professionals and aiming to reach other sectors. The logic is clear: technology is only useful if those who use it know how to do so and understand the risks. Spain is the sixth country in the world in AI usage (40% of the population already uses these tools), but much of that usage is through consumer applications without adequate controls. Microsoft wants to bridge the gap between adoption and digital literacy. The corporate narrative has changed: the company once seen as the Big Brother of software now presents itself as a guarantor of European sovereignty and a talent trainer. This shift responds to a transformed regulatory and geopolitical environment: the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, and the upcoming AI regulation have forced tech companies to redefine their relationship with Europe. Salcedo is clear: “We are pro-regulation. A strong European regulation is an asset.” That Microsoft, investigated for years for monopoly practices, now advocates for regulation shows how much times have changed and how important it is for the company that the rules are clear. In summary, Salcedo proposes a pact: trust us because we have built the infrastructure, signed the contracts, and created the European society. Europe, although negotiating from a less strong position than desired, has the leverage of the market, regulation, and appeal for global talent. Spain is the example, Málaga the proof, and Andalusia aspires to be the next reference. The integration of Claude, Anthropic's AI model, into Copilot—Microsoft's assistant—sparked debate, especially considering Microsoft's involvement with OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT. Salcedo justifies it: betting on a single model in such a changing sector would be a strategic mistake. Microsoft positions itself as an agnostic platform, with 1,700 different models and open to adding more. Another sensitive topic is the controversy in the U.S. over OpenAI and Anthropic's contracts with the Pentagon and the ethical limits of military AI use. Salcedo contextualizes it: every new technology goes through a period of regulatory uncertainty. Microsoft already includes clauses that prohibit unethical AI use in its contracts. These legal guarantees provide confidence, although their effectiveness depends on the willingness and capacity for oversight. In a sector where rules are written in real-time and governments redefine what is legal, trust is relative.