The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reportedly launched an investigation into Microsoft’s practices, including across its software licensing and cloud computing businesses.

The FTC sent a letter to Microsoft asking the company to hand over information to assist in the agency’s scrutiny, according to a report by Reuters.

The Commission had already considered launching an investigation following allegations against Microsoft that it imposed discriminatory licensing conditions to keep customers from shifting their data from Azure to other platforms, the Financial Times reported last week.

In June, the FTC received a letter from Google asking to launch an investigation into Microsoft’s Azure practices, claiming that Microsoft was guilty of anticompetitive practices.

In the letter, Google said that Microsoft was taking advantage of the dominant position of Windows Server and Office to push customers into using Azure. Google also mentioned a “complex web” of licensing restrictions that should be applied to prevent businesses from diversifying their enterprise software vendors.

The US antitrust watchdog also investigated Microsoft’s acquisition of Acitivision Blizzard , a major video game developer known for popular franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.

The FTC argued that the acquisition and consequent merger, which was completed for $69 billion, would give Microsoft a monopoly in the video game industry.

Microsoft denied this, with the FTC filing an administrative complaint. The matter is currently pending further adjudication.

Microsoft recently solidified its presence as a player in the artificial intelligence landscape through a series of investments in the AI arena. The acquisitions include a multi-billion dollar investment into OpenAI and its chatbot Copilot in January 2023, with the two tech giants announcing a multi-year partnership.

The deal enables Microsoft to integrate OpenAI’s advanced AI models into its products and services, with a particular focus on integrating AI into its Azure cloud platform.

Microsoft’s capital injection has enabled OpenAI to accelerate its product development, with the recent launch of GPT-3, DALL-E and Codex.

Over the past few years, the FTC has been scrutinising a range of tech firms for antitrust purposes. Two years ago, it abandoned a case seeking to block Meta from purchasing virtual reality start-up Within Unlimited. Last week, the US department of Justice said Google should sell Chrome as part of a historic crackdown on the tech giant's search monopoly, according to Bloomberg News.

---