Since it committed to matching Amazon Inc. on infrastructure prices three years ago, Microsoft Corp. quietly broadened the effort by creating homegrown versions of advanced AWS services. And judging by the locations of the four new cloud data centers that were announced on the Azure blog this week, Redmond has been paying attention to its rival’s expansion roadmap, too.

The first two facilitates are in South Korea, where Amazon set up shop last November to try and court the country’s prosperous private sector. The firms have the same motive for establishing a local presence: Bringing infrastructure closer to customers reduces latency and thus makes it easier to compete with regional providers. Moreover, the move will also enable Microsoft and Amazon to do business in markets that were inaccessible before due to data regulations. Companies in the healthcare sector, for instance, are required to keep patient records within their home jurisdictions.

To attract as broad a range of customers as possible, Redmond’s South Korean data centers will provide both Azure and Office 365 services. The one based in Seoul went online earlier this week alongside the company’s two other new facilities, which are located in Toronto and Quebec City, respectively. They offer the same combination of low latency and regulatory compliance while also giving Microsoft another boost in its fight against Amazon.

The retail-turned-cloud giant announced plans to expand to Canada earlier this year but has yet to launch a local data center. That gives Redmond a valuable time window to court local companies before the competition kicks into full gear, though it probably won’t last long if Amazon’s past expansions are any indication. The company’s  South Korean facility came online last than two months after its intentions to establish a local presence were first made public.

Image via Geralt