Microsoft has become the latest US company to be targeted by an antitrust investigation in China, as officials from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce visited some of its local offices on Monday.
The move came days after it emerged that a separate investigation of Qualcomm was moving closer to a conclusion, after another competition body, the National Development and Reform Commission, determined that the US mobile chip company had used monopoly power in setting its licensing fees.
Microsoft’s offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu were all the subject of unannounced visits from the SAIC, one of three Chinese antitrust bodies, Chinese media reported on Monday.