Google Cloud has accused Microsoft of anti-competitive practices in cloud computing and criticised several imminent deals with European cloud vendors for not addressing broader concerns about licensing terms. Google Cloud’s Vice President, Amit Zavery, said the company had raised the issue with antitrust agencies and urged European Union regulators to investigate further. Microsoft referred to a blogpost from May last year where its president, Brad Smith, said that the company had a healthy number two position in the cloud services market, with over 20% global market share.
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There is intense competition between the two US tech giants in the fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar cloud computing business, where Google lags behind Amazon and Microsoft. The sector is coming under greater regulatory scrutiny in the US and UK, in part due to the dominance of a small number of players and the increasingly critical role played by the cloud in service provision.
Microsoft has agreed to change its cloud computing practices in a deal with several smaller rivals, who will in turn suspend their antitrust complaints. This will avert an EU investigation. Zavery claimed that Microsoft had an “anti-competitive posture” in cloud computing and used its dominance in on-premises business, Office 365 and Windows to tie in Azure and other cloud services, making it hard for customers to choose other providers.
