FTC Ratchets Up Microsoft Probe, Queries Rivals on Cloud, AI

The US Federal Trade Commission is accelerating scrutiny of Microsoft Corp. as part of an ongoing probe into whether the company illegally monopolizes large swaths of the enterprise computing market with its cloud software and AI offerings, including Copilot.

The agency has issued civil investigative demands in recent weeks to companies that compete with Microsoft in the business software and cloud computing markets, according to people familiar with the matter. The demands feature an array of questions on Microsoft’s licensing and other business practices, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a confidential investigation. At least half a dozen companies received the requests, one of the people said.