--- title: "After Google, Microsoft also faced \"knocking on the door\": Japan's antitrust storm escalates, and tech giants' cloud businesses face compliance tests" type: "News" locale: "zh-HK" url: "https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/276880180.md" description: "Japan's antitrust regulatory agency, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), conducted an on-site raid at Microsoft's Japan headquarters on February 25 to investigate whether it improperly promoted the Azure cloud platform by leveraging its dominant position in the operating system and office software markets, thereby restricting competitors. Regulators are concerned that Microsoft may increase the costs for customers using Windows Server or Microsoft 365 on third-party platforms through unfair licensing terms. This action reflects the global regulatory trend against \"vendor lock-in\" practices by large tech companies" datetime: "2026-02-25T11:44:04.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/276880180.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276880180.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/276880180.md) --- > 支持的語言: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/276880180.md) | [English](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276880180.md) # After Google, Microsoft also faced "knocking on the door": Japan's antitrust storm escalates, and tech giants' cloud businesses face compliance tests According to information obtained by Zhitong Finance APP, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) conducted an on-site raid on Microsoft (MSFT.US) headquarters in Japan on February 25, according to a source familiar with the matter. The core of this action is to investigate whether Microsoft is improperly promoting its Azure cloud platform and restricting competitors by leveraging its absolute dominance in the operating system and office software markets. Regulators suspect that Microsoft has set unfair licensing terms, causing customers running Windows Server or Microsoft 365 software on third-party platforms like Amazon AWS or Google Cloud to face higher costs or more complex technical barriers than on Azure. A spokesperson for the Japan Fair Trade Commission declined to comment. A representative from Microsoft Japan stated in a press release that the company is fully cooperating with the Fair Trade Commission's requests. In fact, the Japan Fair Trade Commission's actions are not coincidental but rather a proactive response to the global trend of regulating "vendor lock-in" practices among large tech giants. It is understood that Microsoft is engaged in fierce global competition with Amazon (AMZN.US) subsidiary AWS and Alphabet (GOOGL.US) subsidiary Google Cloud for customers in the cloud services and artificial intelligence sectors. These three major American cloud service providers view Japan as a key market—home to numerous large corporate groups and banks—and have invested significant resources to ensure a leading position in this market. 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 corporate digital transformation. Therefore, Japan's 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 EU and the US having previously conducted in-depth reviews of similar bundling practices, Japan's high-profile intervention indicates a strengthening consensus among major global economies on fair access to cloud infrastructure. It is worth noting that last year, the Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a cease-and-desist order to Google, pointing out that the Android software provider had required business partners to prioritize the promotion of its smartphone applications, allegedly 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 high-performance server clusters. Although Japan has local 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 local cloud services market is still firmly held by American suppliers. Research firm IDC predicts that by 2029, the Japanese cloud computing market 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 competitive environment remains fair and orderly during this critical window period when market demand is about to surge ### 相關股票 - [Microsoft (MSFT.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/MSFT.US.md) - [YieldMax MSFT Option Income Strategy ETF (MSFO.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/MSFO.US.md) - [Global X Cloud Computing ETF (CLOU.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/CLOU.US.md) - [Direxion Daily MSFT Bull 2X Shares (MSFU.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/MSFU.US.md) - [GraniteShares 2x Long MSFT Daily ETF (MSFL.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/MSFL.US.md) - [T-Rex 2X Long Microsoft Daily Target ETF (MSFX.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/MSFX.US.md) - [Direxion Daily MSFT Bear 1x Shares (MSFD.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/MSFD.US.md) - [Kurv Yield Premium Strategy Microsoft MSFT ETF (MSFY.US)](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/quote/MSFY.US.md) ## 相關資訊與研究 - [Microsoft announces Copilot leadership update - blog](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/279457472.md) - [Microsoft startup credits are the gift that keeps on billing unsuspecting users](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/279773603.md) - [BREAKINGVIEWS-OpenAI's AGI chase is tricky concept and contract](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/279204413.md) - [Out-of-band getting out of hand as Microsoft pushes hotpatch for Bluetooth](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/279431802.md) - [Key facts: Microsoft OpenAI Stake, $304.8B Rev; Abilene Azure Campus](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/279132015.md)