--- title: "Azure is under antitrust investigation, and Microsoft's Japan head emphasizes compliance operations" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/277033927.md" description: "Microsoft is cooperating with Japanese antitrust authorities to investigate anti-competitive behavior related to its Azure cloud services. The President of Microsoft Japan emphasized that the company operates under the principle of integrity and pointed out Japan's potential in artificial intelligence applications. The investigation focuses on Microsoft's software licensing mechanisms, suspecting that its high fees and technical barriers for competitor platforms may violate antitrust laws" datetime: "2026-02-26T11:54:03.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/277033927.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277033927.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/277033927.md) --- > Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/277033927.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/277033927.md) # Azure is under antitrust investigation, and Microsoft's Japan head emphasizes compliance operations According to Zhitong Finance APP, the head of Microsoft's Japan branch stated that Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) is cooperating with Japanese antitrust regulators in an investigation in response to scrutiny regarding potential anti-competitive behavior related to Azure cloud services. Earlier reports indicated that the Japan Fair Trade Commission is investigating whether Microsoft is hindering customers' choice of other competitors' cloud services by restricting its software to run only on the Azure platform. Miki Tsuzaka, President of Microsoft Japan, stated on Thursday: "Japan is one of Microsoft's most important strategic markets, and all our business operates under the principle of integrity. I hope this can be reflected in our daily market practices." She declined to comment further on the details of the investigation. Tsuzaka pointed out that Japan is expected to benefit significantly from the application of artificial intelligence in the face of challenges such as an aging population and population decline, but "human care in transformation" remains a key bottleneck for the country in advancing its transformation. She emphasized: "If we do not change our work patterns, we will continue to hold the same meetings and use the same traditional tools like PDFs and PPTs." However, the executive expressed "great satisfaction" with the speed of AI adoption in Japan. She stated: "Compared to the lagging situation of previous technological revolutions, Japan is slightly behind this time, but the gap is not significant." She further added: "I have observed clear signs of growth—companies and individuals are actively embracing change and adopting new technologies, and this dynamic development gives me confidence in the future." It is understood that the focus of the controversy in this investigation lies in Microsoft's software licensing mechanism. Regulators suspect that Microsoft has imposed unreasonable "additional fees" on companies running Windows or Microsoft 365 software on competitors' platforms or set extremely high technical barriers, significantly increasing the costs for customers running Microsoft products on non-Azure platforms. This practice, known as "software bundling" or "restrictive licensing," is considered to potentially violate the provisions of Japan's Antimonopoly Act regarding "excluding competitors" and "interfering with trading partners." If the relevant allegations are true, Microsoft may face hefty fines and mandatory business restructuring. Additionally, Japan is the second-largest economy in Asia after China and is a key market for Microsoft in its global competition against giants like Amazon AWS and Google Cloud. In 2024, Microsoft announced plans to invest approximately $2.9 billion over the next two years to strengthen its AI and cloud computing infrastructure in Japan. The Japan Fair Trade Commission's actions are not coincidental but rather a proactive response to the global trend of regulating "vendor lock-in" behaviors of large tech giants. Regulators are concerned that if Microsoft uses its software licensing advantages to effectively force users to bind to Azure services, it will severely harm free competition in the cloud market and increase the long-term costs of digital transformation for businesses. Therefore, Japanese antitrust regulators are taking increasingly tough measures to curb what they perceive as the growing oligopolistic tendencies of large American tech companies, aligning with the positions of overseas regulatory bodies With the European Union and the United States having previously conducted in-depth reviews of similar bundling practices, Japan's high-profile intervention this time signifies that the consensus among major global economies on fair access to cloud infrastructure is strengthening. It is worth mentioning that the Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a cease-and-desist order to Google (GOOGL.US) last year, stating that the Android software provider had required its business partners to prioritize the promotion of its smartphone applications, which is suspected of abusing its market dominance. With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence, the cloud services market is expected to accelerate its expansion—this technology heavily relies on the support of high-performance server clusters. Although Japan has domestic data center operators (the government is strengthening the national cybersecurity system by supporting these companies), similar to most countries globally, the dominant position in its domestic cloud services market is still firmly held by American suppliers. Research firm IDC predicts that by 2029, Japan's cloud computing market size will reach 19 trillion yen (approximately 121 billion USD), nearly double the total in 2024. Meanwhile, the Japan Fair Trade Commission has clearly stated its intention to ensure that the market competition environment remains fair and orderly during this critical window period when market demand is about to surge ### Related Stocks - [Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFT.US.md) - [GraniteShares 2x Long MSFT Daily ETF (MSFL.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFL.US.md) - [iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sect ETF (IGV.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IGV.US.md) - [State StreetSPDRS&PSftwr&SvcsETF (XSW.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/XSW.US.md) - [YieldMax MSFT Option Income Strategy ETF (MSFO.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFO.US.md) - [Global X Cloud Computing ETF (CLOU.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CLOU.US.md) - [Direxion Daily MSFT Bull 2X Shares (MSFU.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFU.US.md) - [T-Rex 2X Long Microsoft Daily Target ETF (MSFX.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFX.US.md) - [Direxion Daily MSFT Bear 1X ETF (MSFD.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFD.US.md) - [Kurv Yield Premium Str Microsoft ETF (MSFY.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFY.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Microsoft startup credits are the gift that keeps on billing unsuspecting users](https://longbridge.com/en/news/279773603.md) - [Microsoft-Backed OpenAI to Reportedly Start Showing Ads to Free, Go Users of ChatGPT in US](https://longbridge.com/en/news/280141022.md) - [Microsoft announces Copilot leadership update - blog](https://longbridge.com/en/news/279457472.md) - [Out-of-band getting out of hand as Microsoft pushes hotpatch for Bluetooth](https://longbridge.com/en/news/279431802.md) - [Microsoft rolls back some of its Copilot AI bloat on Windows](https://longbridge.com/en/news/279992243.md)