Microsoft Corp.’s $13 billion investment into OpenAI Inc. faces increased scrutiny from the European Union’s antitrust regulators. The probe will focus on the AI firm’s exclusive utilization of Microsoft’s cloud technology, raising concerns among competitors about potential anti-competitive effects. Read more.
- EU asks market rivals about Microsoft’s OpenAI ‘exclusivity.’
- Regulators decide the pact cannot be examined under merger rules.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager is anticipated to make an announcement on Friday, ruling out an investigation under the EU’s merger rules. Instead, the focus will be on gathering more information from Microsoft’s competitors and customers about the company’s exclusivity clauses with OpenAI. These exclusivity agreements could potentially harm competition within the sector. The increased scrutiny underscores the EU’s commitment to ensuring competitive fairness, particularly in rapidly evolving fields such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing.