{"slug": "microsoft-retreats-in-china-but-ai-boom-helps-it-keep-a-window-open", "title": "Microsoft retreats in China, but AI boom helps it keep a window open", "summary": "Microsoft has shut at least 15 branch offices and joint ventures in China over the past five years, according to corporate filings, and five company sources described a strategy of retreat, with one executive saying the firm considered quitting the market in 2023 due to geopolitical risk. China accounted for just 1.5% of Microsoft's global revenue in 2024, and the company has no current plans to exit, but the AI boom is helping it keep a window open in the country.", "body_md": "BEIJING/SHANGHAI – Microsoft once regarded the idea of quitting China as unthinkable. The year was 2010 and Google was about to exit due to concerns over censorship and cyberattacks. That decision was lauded by democracy activists, but not Bill Gates and Microsoft’s then-CEO Steve Ballmer, who suggested Google was overreacting.\n\nIn the past five years, however, at least 15 Microsoft branch offices and joint ventures in China have been shut, corporate filings show, and Microsoft is pursuing what five company sources described as a strategy of retreat.\n\nThe firm considered quitting the market in 2023 because some executives felt it took on too much geopolitical risk for too little economic return, one of them said, while stressing Microsoft has no current plans to exit. China accounted for just 1.5% of global revenue, Microsoft said in 2024. Microsoft took a major hit from the erosion of trust between Washington and Beijing, the five people said.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-retreats-in-china-but-ai-boom-helps-it-keep-a-window-open", "canonical_source": "https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/08/18/tech/microsoft-china-ai-boom/", "published_at": "2026-08-18 01:06:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-18 01:10:42.148874+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Microsoft", "Google", "Bill Gates", "Steve Ballmer"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-retreats-in-china-but-ai-boom-helps-it-keep-a-window-open", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-retreats-in-china-but-ai-boom-helps-it-keep-a-window-open.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-retreats-in-china-but-ai-boom-helps-it-keep-a-window-open.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/microsoft-retreats-in-china-but-ai-boom-helps-it-keep-a-window-open.jsonld"}}