US FTC ramps up scrutiny of Microsoft over AI, cloud practices, questions rivals, Bloomberg reports

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has intensified its scrutiny of Microsoft’s business practices concerning its AI, cloud computing, and software licensing. According to Bloomberg, the agency recently sent civil investigative demands to at least six of Microsoft’s competitors in the enterprise software and cloud markets to gather information about Microsoft’s licensing agreements and product bundling strategies, particularly involving AI, security, and identity software. This development follows an investigation launched in 2024 under then-FTC Chair Lina Khan, which centers on whether Microsoft has leveraged its dominant position in productivity software to impose restrictive licensing terms. These terms might inhibit customers from migrating their data and workloads to rival cloud platforms, effectively locking them into Microsoft’s Azure cloud ecosystem. Competitors have expressed concerns that such practices hinder market competition. The FTC’s probe forms part of a broader regulatory effort in the U.S. to examine potential monopolistic behavior in the rapidly evolving tech sector, especially with the growing significance of AI integration across software products. Microsoft has not publicly commented on these inquiries, while the FTC has also declined to respond. The investigation could have far-reaching implications for Microsoft’s AI and cloud strategies, potentially affecting how the company structures its offerings and interacts with customers and competitors in the marketplace.