Microsoft’s Omnipresence Catches Eye of German Antitrust Watchdog

Microsoft’s size and scope has gotten the attention of Germany’s antitrust regulator.

The Federal Cartel Office announced Monday (Sept. 30) that it was placing the tech giant under closer scrutiny in the form of a five-year “extended abuse control” measure.

The effort comes as Microsoft’s products have become “omnipresent” and “indispensable” among businesses, consumers and organizations, Andreas Mundt, the cartel office president, said in the announcement.

He cited things like the Windows operating system, its partnership with and investment in OpenAI and its involvement in the video game world thanks to the Xbox system.

“Today Microsoft’s ecosystem is stronger and more closely interconnected than ever before, because overarching all of its activities is the increasing use of the cloud and AI, key technologies in which Microsoft has consolidated its strong position by developing its own products and entering into cooperations,” Mundt said.

When reached for comment by PYMNTS, Microsoft said it was cooperating with the watchdog.

“We recognize our responsibility to support a healthy competitive environment and we will strive to be proactive, collaborative and responsible in working with the Bundeskartellamt. Microsoft is partnering with Germany’s most innovative companies, and we’re committed to investing in the growth of its digital economy,” a Microsoft spokesperson told PYMNTS.

Mundt had warned earlier this year that the rise of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools had the potential to serve as a “first-class fire accelerator” for anticompetitive behavior among Big Tech companies such as Microsoft and Google, with the technology threatening to exacerbate existing issues.

“AI will make all the problems only worse,” Mundt said, expressing concerns that consumers might find it increasingly difficult to bypass Big Tech platforms in favor of alternative services.

In related news, PYMNTS wrote last week about Microsoft’s plans to restart the dormant Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania to help meet its AI demand.

It’s a decision that “highlights the massive energy needs that come with scaling AI advancements,” Labhesh Patel, CEO, and co-founder of Autonomys, a company developing decentralized AI infrastructure, told PYMNTS. “As AI systems become more integral to the economy and technological progress, their energy demands are rising.”

It’s a partnership that could usher in a wave of similar agreements between Big Tech and energy companies, that report noted.

Benjamin Lee, an engineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania, suggested that tech companies are embracing nuclear power as renewable energy struggles to address rising data center demands.

“There is an increasing realization … that renewable energy installations cannot keep pace with data center construction, raising questions about whether net zero is possible,” Lee said.