UK antitrust officials join FTC in investigating Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection AI staff

The UK’s antitrust watchdog is once again investigating . The Competition and Markets Authority () has over the company’s hiring of former Inflection AI staff and its licensing of the startup’s tech. The initial phase one investigation will be wrapped up by September 11, at which point the CMA will determine whether to open a more in-depth (phase two) probe.

The agency will try to determine whether Microsoft attempted to avoid antitrust scrutiny by recruiting Inflection’s staff and employing its tech but not buying the company outright. It will look at whether the moves “resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002” and if that has, or is likely to have, a negative impact on competition in the UK.

“We are confident that the hiring of talent promotes competition and should not be treated as a merger,” Microsoft told  in a statement. “We will provide the UK CMA with the information it needs to complete its inquiries expeditiously.”

Microsoft’s Inflection strategy is also under the spotlight in the US. The Federal Trade Commission is .

Microsoft last week its non-voting observer seat on OpenAI’s board in what onlookers believed was an attempt to evade further antitrust scrutiny. Microsoft has invested into OpenAI — which has also .

Meanwhile, the CMA and Microsoft are familiar foes. The antitrust agency heavily scrutinized Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. The probe was the before .