Microsoft to launch its first cloud region in Israel in 2021

Microsoft is planning to open its first cloud region in Israel next year, company officials said on January 22. That brings Microsoft's total of announced cloud regions to 56 across 21 countries.

Microsoft plans to make Azure available in the Israel region starting in 2021 with Office 365 to follow. Officials said the new region will allow customers to "adhere to data residency requirements to store data within Israel."

Microsoft opened its first local branch in Israel in 1989. It established its Israeli R&D center , which was its first R&D center outside the U.S. in 1991. Microsoft also will be launching its new Israel campus in 2020.

Microsoft last month announced plans to open a cloud region in Qatar, where Azure is slated to come online in 2021, followed by Office 365 and Dynamics 365. 

It seems to be a week for the big cloud vendors to talk up their expansion plans. AWS said this week that its AWS Outposts hybrid service is available in seven new regions.

In other campus-related news, Microsoft is opening an office in Berkeley, Calif. by the end of January. The new office will be home to the Semantic Machines and Bonsai AI teams that MS acquired. Microsoft bought AI startup Semantic Machines in 2018 and machine-learning startup Bonsai in 2018.