Japan launches surprise antitrust inspection at Microsoft
Japan’s competition watchdog has carried out a surprise inspection at Microsoft’s headquarters in Tokyo as part of an investigation into a suspected violation of Japan’s antitrust law.
According to sources familiar with the probe, cited by NHK, the U.S. tech giant is suspected of applying discriminatory commercial conditions by charging higher licensing fees for the use of its software — including Microsoft 365 and the Windows operating system — on rival cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud compared with its own service, Microsoft Azure, CE Report quotes ANSA.
The Commission believes such practices could constitute an abuse of dominant market position in the global software market, potentially hindering competitors’ ability to attract customers in the rapidly expanding cloud computing sector.
The investigation will also examine how these commercial policies were defined and the nature of the relationship between Microsoft’s Japanese subsidiary and its U.S. parent company.
The measure comes amid tighter scrutiny by Japan’s antitrust authority toward major technology companies, particularly U.S. firms. In 2024, inspections were conducted at Amazon Japan over alleged unfair trade practices, while in 2025 Google was formally asked to stop requiring smartphone manufacturers to pre-install its search and browsing applications.
Microsoft Japan said in a statement that it is ready to fully cooperate with the Commission’s requests.
