{"id":902776,"date":"2026-05-01T04:23:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/azure-customers-up-in-arms-over-full-uk-south-region\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T04:23:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:23:45","slug":"azure-customers-up-in-arms-over-full-uk-south-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/azure-customers-up-in-arms-over-full-uk-south-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Azure customers up in arms over \u2018full\u2019 UK South region"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"content-header\">\n<h2>Microsoft customers report being refused capacity, migration projects stuck halfway, and accusations that AI is being prioritised over \u2018bread and butter\u2019 offerings<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"content-center\">\n<ul>\n<li><i data-icon=\"1\"><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i data-icon=\"2\"><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"contributors-block\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ttgtmedia.com\/rms\/computerweekly\/Antony-Adshead-April26-140x180px.jpg\" alt=\"Antony Adshead\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.techtarget.com\/contributor\/Antony-Adshead\">Antony Adshead,<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n\tPublished: <span>08 Apr 2026 15:30<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"content-body\">\n<p>Microsoft Azure is refusing capacity to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/resources\/Cloud-computing-services\">cloud customers<\/a> in the company\u2019s UK South (UKS) region, with issues around the availability of Azure virtual machines (VMs) \u2013 especially in AMD-based compute, those aimed at HPC workloads and graphics processing unit (GPU)-equipped services.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to comments made to Computer Weekly and in message board threads on Reddit, where many blame Microsoft\u2019s drive to roll out datacentre resource-hungry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366639308\/Microsoft-CEO-opens-up-London-AI-tour-with-Copilot-push\">Copilot AI<\/a> to the detriment of existing customer requirements.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/AZURE\/comments\/1seqid8\/uk_south_capacity_issues\/\">One commenter said<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s well known to be terrible and apparently is waiting for more capacity to come online at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another said: \u201cTerrible capacity issues in UKS. It seems to be impacting one availability zone more than others, and AMD CPUs [central processing units] are far more scarce. We\u2019ve been executing a migration and have faced a number of hurdles securing quota and capacity. I\u2019m told Microsoft are in the process of moving their own internal services <a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366639977\/Microsoft-Cowork-One-data-store-for-all-your-M365-assets\">such as M365<\/a> out of those datacentres to free up capacity for customers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Azure\u2019s UK South region has had capacity issues for some time. Earlier this year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/AZURE\/comments\/1p3bo9y\/uk_south_running_out_of_capacity\/\">one customer reported<\/a> being stuck part-way through an Azure Virtual Desktop migration due to not being able to secure capacity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith 75% of our staff moved, and around 40 vCPU used, we are being denied all additional capacity requests, even after raising tickets and escalating,\u201d they said. \u201cBecause of the nature of the apps that we use, low latency is vital (really, it prefers local LAN). We are also required by many of our clients to host data in the UK only due to the nature of what we do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d successfully migrated around 75% of the company, and then when trying to increase quota to finish the job, found that we were denied capacity for everything we tried, v5 and v6 [Azure VMs], AMD, Intel. We escalated several tickets, and were told that our request would be backlogged and denied by the region owner due to capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another commenter said they could get capacity for the platform as a service offering they work on, but could not be sure about future requests: \u201cThe service I work on has capacity in UK South \u2013 but what happens if we have to scale out further to make room for more resources?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UK South is one of two Azure regions in the UK. The other is UK West, based in south Wales.<\/p>\n<p>UK South can offer Availability Zones, which means operations are spread across three datacentres to offer resilience. Many UK South customers run primary operations there and use UK West \u2013 which is a single datacentre \u2013 as a disaster recovery failover location.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some disgruntled customers believe Microsoft has prioritised the roll-out of datacentre capacity for Copilot AI to the detriment of existing services. In other words, that roll-out of GPU-equipped servers \u2013 which are massively resource-hungry \u2013 have put a squeeze on datacentre capacity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReading between the lines, the rush to AI has f****d Microsoft\u2019s bread and butter services,\u201d said one commenter. \u201cSo, they\u2019ve effectively shot themselves in their foot pushing out a product no one wants, to the detriment of one people do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll resources are thrown into the AI abyss. It\u2019s also created hardware shortages that don\u2019t seem to have an end.<\/p>\n<section data-menu-title=\"AI sales focus\">\n<h2><i data-icon=\"1\"><\/i>AI sales focus<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/opinion\/Azure-Local-Disconnected-looks-the-part-for-sovereignty-It-isnt\">Owen Sayers<\/a>, an independent consultant with decades of experience in delivering public sector IT, said: \u201cIn UK South, Microsoft offers 10 different types of GPU. In UK West, they have just two, and the A100 there is no spring chicken. Microsoft are focusing heavily on sales of AI, and if customers in the UK are buying GPU, it\u2019s pretty much always going to be in UK South as their anchor tenancy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat will increase heat, power and load,\u201d he added. \u201cNothing restricts datacentre capacity more than a few hundred power-draining GPUs. Also, Microsoft wants to sell GPUs with everything, so perhaps their focus has drifted from traditional cloud towards AI and they aren\u2019t managing capacity well as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366640935\/Data-dive-Government-2030-datacentre-capacity-targets-look-shaky\">data from Barbour ABI and ComputerWeekly<\/a>, around 121MW of datacentre capacity is due to complete in 2026, in areas that come within Azure\u2019s UK South and West regions. The bulk of that will be at a Virtus development in High Wycombe in Bucks, a Kao development at Harlow in Essex, and for Vantage Data Centres in Newport, South Wales, which would be within UK West and could allow capacity to be reallocated.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft responded to a summary of complaints with the following: \u201cAzure is delivered through a global network of around 80 regions worldwide, giving customers flexibility in how they deploy and scale workloads. As customer demand for Azure services in the UK remains strong, we continuously monitor and adjust how resources are allocated to ensure reliable support for existing customer workloads and maintain service availability and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"DigDeeperSplash\">\n<h4>\n\t\t\t<i data-icon=\"m\"><\/i>Read more on Cloud computing services<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a id=\"DigDeeperItem-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366641660\/Go-West-US-datacentres-head-for-available-and-cheap-energy\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/datacenter-monitoring-3-adobe_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/datacenter-monitoring-3-adobe_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg 960w,https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/datacenter-monitoring-3-adobe.jpg 1280w\" alt ><\/p>\n<h5>Go West! US datacentres head for available and cheap energy<\/h5>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/rms\/computerweekly\/Antony-Adshead-April26-140x180px.jpg\" alt=\"AntonyAdshead\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><span>By: <span>Antony\u00a0Adshead<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"DigDeeperItem-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366640935\/Data-dive-Government-2030-datacentre-capacity-targets-look-shaky\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/datacentre-server-adobe_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/datacentre-server-adobe_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg 960w,https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/datacentre-server-adobe.jpg 1280w\" alt ><\/p>\n<h5>Data dive: UK government\u2019s 2030 datacentre capacity targets look shaky<\/h5>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/rms\/computerweekly\/Antony-Adshead-April26-140x180px.jpg\" alt=\"AntonyAdshead\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><span>By: <span>Antony\u00a0Adshead<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"DigDeeperItem-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366640447\/Hit-the-north-UK-datacentre-focus-shifts-to-M62-and-points-north\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/ComputerWeekly\/Hero Images\/Manchester-tram-AdobeStock-299330969-hero_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/ComputerWeekly\/Hero%20Images\/Manchester-tram-AdobeStock-299330969-hero_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg 960w,https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/ComputerWeekly\/Hero%20Images\/Manchester-tram-AdobeStock-299330969-hero.jpg 1280w\" alt ><\/p>\n<h5>Hit the north! UK datacentre focus shifts to M62 and points north<\/h5>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/rms\/computerweekly\/Antony-Adshead-April26-140x180px.jpg\" alt=\"AntonyAdshead\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><span>By: <span>Antony\u00a0Adshead<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a id=\"DigDeeperItem-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366634738\/UK-government-outlines-next-wave-of-AI-investment-plans\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/networking-speed-adobe_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/networking-speed-adobe_searchsitetablet_520X173.jpg 960w,https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/visuals\/German\/article\/networking-speed-adobe.jpg 1280w\" alt ><\/p>\n<h5>UK government outlines next wave of AI investment plans<\/h5>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/rms\/computerweekly\/Caroline-Donnelly-CW-contributor-2022-140x180px.JPG\" alt=\"CarolineDonnelly\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><span>By: <span>Caroline\u00a0Donnelly<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p> Margarett Mcnaught<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerweekly.com\/news\/366641533\/Azure-customers-up-in-arms-over-full-UK-South-region\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft customers report being refused capacity, migration projects stuck halfway, and accusations that AI is being prioritised over \u2018bread and butter\u2019 offerings By Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting) Published: 08 Apr 2026 15:30 Microsoft Azure is refusing capacity to cloud customers in the company\u2019s UK South (UKS) region, with issues around the availability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":902777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31065,2576],"tags":[13240,6446],"class_list":{"0":"post-902776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-azure","8":"category-customers","9":"tag-azure","10":"tag-customers"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}