The May Inquisition: UK Regulators to Probe if Microsoft’s “AI Super-Ecosystem” is Stifling the Cloud

The CMA has launched an inquiry to determine whether Microsoft’s bundling of Word, Excel, Teams, Windows, Copilot and Azure gives it ‘Strategic Market Status’ and unfairly restricts competition in cloud and AI markets; the report also notes the CMA’s parallel 2025 cloud market probe and prior regulatory scrutiny of Microsoft’s AI partnerships and hiring practices.