Google files EU antitrust complaint accusing Microsoft of stifling cloud competition
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Google filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission on Wednesday accusing Microsoft of using unfair licensing contracts to stifle competition in the multibillion-dollar cloud computing industry.
At the heart of Google’s complaint is the allegation that Microsoft uses unfair licensing terms to “lock in” clients and exert control over the cloud market.
Google alleges that Microsoft, through its dominant Windows Server and Microsoft Office products, can make it difficult for its massive roster of clients to use anything but its Azure cloud infrastructure offering.
The internet giant said in its complaint that restrictions contained in Microsoft’s cloud licensing terms makes it harder for customers to move their workloads from Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology to competitors’ clouds, despite there being no technical barriers to doing so.
European businesses and public sector organizations have been forced to pay the firm up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) a year in licensing penalties due to restrictions on customers’ ability to switch from one cloud provider to another, Google said, citing a 2023 study by CISPE, a trade body for the cloud computing sector.
The antitrust complaint from Google arrives after CISPE and its members in July agreed a settlement with Microsoft which would see the firm make changes to address competition concerns.
Referring to the CISPE settlement, Microsoft said in a statement Wednesday that it expects the European Commission to dismiss Google’s complaint.
“Microsoft settled amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, even after Google hoped they would keep litigating,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC via email. “Having failed to persuade European companies, we expect Google similarly will fail to persuade the European Commission.”
Microsoft’s cloud ‘tax’ at issue
In a summary of the complaint, Google — which ranks third globally in the cloud computing market behind market leaders Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, respectively — said that Microsoft “harms cybersecurity and undermines innovation.”
According to Google, if a company runs Microsoft’s Office suite of productivity tools and other applications on Google Cloud Platform or other competing clouds, they are effectively required to pay a “tax” in the form of punchy licensing fees to Microsoft.
Google said that Microsoft undermined competition in cloud, and referred to findings of a U.K. Competition and Markets Authority study which determined Microsoft acquired over 60% to 70% of all new British businesses in 2021 and 2022.
Google also suggested that Microsoft’s cloud practices have potentially made businesses more prone to security issues.
In an interview with CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal Wednesday, Amit Zavery, Google Cloud’s head of platform, said Google believes Microsoft is “100%” in violation of EU antitrust rules.
“We would like the cloud market to remain and become very vibrant and open for all the providers including European vendors, vendors like us, AWS and others,” Zavery said.
“Today the restrictions does not allow choice for customers,” Zavery said. “Today the restrictions does not allow choice for customers,” he said, adding that Microsoft included restrictions once it realized the massive commercial potential of the technology.
“So, we would want those restrictions to be removed and allow customers to have and choose whatever cloud provider they think is best for them commercially and technically,” he added.
Zavery told CNBC that if Microsoft makes changes to its cloud licensing terms as a result of its complaint, Google and cloud customers more broadly would be “very happy.”
Following the July settlement agreement with Microsoft, CISPE said the tech giant would work with its members to release an enhanced version of Azure Stack HCI, a cloud infrastructure product, to offer the same features that Microsoft customers using its Azure product currently benefit from.
Google, which is not a CISPE member, said it disagreed with the settlement and chose not to participate in the agreement. Amazon Web Services, which is a CISPE member, and Alibaba‘s cloud unit AliCloud, also chose not to become part of the settlement.
For its part, Microsoft has denied that its cloud practices harm competition. In response to a cloud market study initiated by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, the firm said that it “firmly believes that the cloud services market is functioning well.”
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Google-owned YouTube on Monday said it may remove channels including Fox Broadcast Network, Fox News and Fox Sports from its TV streaming platform if it doesn’t reach an agreement with Fox Corporation.
YouTube TV’s renewal date with Fox is coming on Wednesday, and while the two companies have been in ongoing negotiations, they’ve been unable to reach a deal, the YouTube team wrote in a blog post. The company also emailed YouTube TV subscribers about the potential fall out with Fox.
“Fox is asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive,” YouTube wrote in the blog. “Our priority is to reach a deal that reflects the value of their content and is fair for both sides without passing on additional costs to our subscribers.”
If YouTube is unable to reach a new agreement by 5 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, the Fox channels will become unable on YouTube TV, the Google company said. YouTube pays broadcasters like Fox to carry their channels, and a blackout could have implications on advertisers and millions of viewers who cut their cords to stream Fox’s various channels on YouTube TV.
“While Fox remains committed to reaching a fair agreement with Google’s YouTube TV, we are disappointed that Google continually exploits its outsized influence by proposing terms that are out of step with the marketplace,” the media company said in a statement.
The Fox standoff represents the latest contract dispute between content companies and delivery networks as viewers increasingly ditch cable.
In February, Paramount Global notified YouTube TV subscribers that more than 20 channels including CBS, BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon could go dark on the service if the two didn’t reach a deal. Shortly after, YouTube TV and Paramount announced a multi-year distribution deal.
YouTube TV’s base plan costs $82.99 per month and includes over 100 live channels and unlimited cloud DVR. YouTube said a key part of its commitment to users is its partnership with content providers like Fox, “which allows us to carry a wide variety of channels.”
If Fox does go offline for an extended period of time, YouTube will give its members a $10 credit, the Google company wrote. Users will also be able to watch Fox content by signing up for Fox One, Fox’s streaming service, the blog said.
YouTube recently overtook Netflix, which has a market cap of $515 billion, as the top streaming platform in terms of audience engagement. Google does not provide official subscriber numbers for YouTube TV, but in its February 2024 letter, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced that the service had more than 8 million subscribers. MoffettNathanson principal analyst Michael Nathanson has estimated that YouTube TV has approximately 9.4 million paying subscribers.
WATCH: Apple and Google’s multibillion dollar search pact at risk
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, attends the Viva Technology conference at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 16, 2023.
Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Elon Musk‘s xAI sued Apple and OpenAI on Monday, accusing the pair of an “anticompetitive scheme” to thwart artificial intelligence rivals.
The lawsuit, filed by Musk’s AI startup xAI and its social network business X, alleges Apple and OpenAI have “colluded” to maintain monopolies in the smartphone and generative AI markets.
Musk’s xAI acquired X in March in an all-stock transaction.
It accuses Apple of deprioritizing so-called “super apps” and generative AI chatbot competitors, such as xAI’s Grok, in its App Store rankings, while favoring OpenAI by integrating its ChatGPT chatbot into Apple products.
“In a desperate bid to protect its smartphone monopoly, Apple has joined forces with the company that most benefits from inhibiting competition and innovation in AI: OpenAI, a monopolist in the market for generative AI chatbots,” according to the complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
An OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement: “This latest filing is consistent with Mr. Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment.”
Representatives from Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Tesla CEO launched xAI in 2023 in a bid to compete with OpenAI and other leading chatbot makers.
Musk earlier this month threatened to sue Apple for “an unequivocal antitrust violation,” saying in a post on X that the company “is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store.”
After Musk threatened to sue Apple, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded: “This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”
An Apple spokesperson previously said its App Store was designed to be “fair and free of bias,” and that the company features “thousands of apps” using a variety of signals.
Apple last year partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into iPhone, iPad, Mac laptop and desktop products.
Several users replied to Musk’s post on X via its Community Notes feature saying that rival chatbot apps such as DeepSeek and Perplexity were ranked No. 1 on the App Store after Apple and OpenAI announced their partnership.
The lawsuit is the latest twist in an ongoing clash between Musk and Altman. Musk co-founded OpenAI alongside Altman in 2015, before leaving the startup in 2018 due to disagreements over OpenAI’s direction.
Musk sued OpenAI and Altman last year, accusing them of breach of contract by putting commercial interests ahead of its original mission to develop AI “for the benefit of humanity broadly.”
In a counter claim, OpenAI has alleged that Musk and xAI engaged in “harassment” through litigation, attacks on social media and in the press, and through a “sham bid” to buy the ChatGPT-maker for $97.4 billion designed to harm the company’s business relationships.
Technology
Nvidia’s new ‘robot brain’ goes on sale for $3,499 as company targets robotics for growth
Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, is seen on stage next to a small robot during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 11, 2025.
Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Nvidia announced Monday that its latest robotics chip module, the Jetson AGX Thor, is now on sale for $3,499 as a developer kit.
The company calls the chip a “robot brain.” The first kits ship next month, Nvidia said last week, and the chips will allow customers to create robots.
After a company uses the developer kit to prototype their robot, Nvidia will sell Thor T5000 modules that can be installed in production-ready robots. If a company needs more than 1,000 Thor chips, Nvidia will charge $2,999 per module.
CEO Jensen Huang has said robotics is the company’s largest growth opportunity outside of artificial intelligence, which has led to the Nvidia’s overall sales more than tripling in the past two years.
“We do not build robots, we do not build cars, but we enable the whole industry with our infrastructure computers and the associated software,” said Deepu Talla, Nvidia’s vice president of robotics and edge AI, on a call with reporters Friday.
The Jetson Thor chips are based on a Blackwell graphics processor, which is Nvidia’s current generation of technology used in its AI chips, as well as its chips for computer games.
Nvidia said that its Jetson Thor chips are 7.5 times faster than its previous generation. That allows them to run generative AI models, including large language models and visual models that can interpret the world around them, which is essential for humanoid robots, Nvidia said. The Jetson Thor chips are equipped with 128GB of memory, which is essential for big AI models.
Companies including Agility Robotics, Amazon, Meta and Boston Dynamics are using its Jetson chips, Nvidia said. Nvidia has also invested in robotics companies such as Field AI.
However, robotics remains a small business for Nvidia, accounting for about 1% of the company’s total revenue, despite the fact that it has launched several new robot chips since 2014. But it’s growing fast.
Nvidia recently combined its business units to group its automotive and robotics divisions into the same line item. That unit reported $567 million in quarterly sales in May, which represented a 72% increase on an annual basis.
The company said its Jetson Thor chips can be used for self-driving cars as well, especially from Chinese brands. Nvidia calls its car chips Drive AGX, and while they are similar to its robotics chips, they run an operating system called Drive OS that’s been tuned for automotive purposes.
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