Japan's Fair Trade Commission has launched an investigation into Microsoft Corp. on suspicion of violating the anti-monopoly law by charging higher licensing fees to businesses using its software on rival cloud services, sources close to the matter said Wednesday. The commission conducted an on-site inspection of the IT giant's Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo the same day. Microsoft stated it will cooperate fully with the probe.
Japan's Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) launched an investigation into Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday over suspicions that the company violated the anti-monopoly law by allegedly imposing higher licensing fees on businesses running its software on competing cloud platforms. Sources close to the matter said the commission carried out an on-site inspection of Microsoft's Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo on the same day.
Users of the Microsoft 365 software suite and the Windows operating system face elevated licensing costs when operating them on cloud services other than Microsoft's Azure. Cloud services enable businesses and individuals to access software and storage via the internet, eliminating the need for their own servers.
Microsoft's Japanese unit issued a statement saying it will fully cooperate with the commission. The probe comes amid fierce global competition in the expanding cloud market, with rivals including Amazon.com Inc. and Google LLC. Regulators are examining whether Microsoft is leveraging its software dominance to unfairly stifle competition.
In recent years, the JFTC has intensified scrutiny of big tech firms. It conducted an on-site inspection of Amazon Japan G.K. in 2024, suspecting antitrust violations related to pressuring retailers to lower prices in exchange for prominent product placements on its platform; that investigation remains ongoing. In 2025, the commission ordered Google to cease unfairly requiring smartphone manufacturers to preinstall its search and browser apps, in violation of antitrust rules.
These actions reflect efforts to promote fair competition in the rapidly growing cloud sector.