Microsoft remains under scrutiny by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is investigating whether the technology company should be designated as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) in its business software ecosystem.
The formal investigation began on 14 May 2026 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The regulator is examining whether Microsoft's position in widely used workplace software gives it substantial and entrenched market power and strategic significance.
What is the CMA examining?
The investigation covers business software used by UK organisations, including productivity applications, operating systems, databases and security tools. Products such as Windows, Word, Excel, Teams and the growing integration of Copilot artificial intelligence are relevant to the regulator's examination.
The CMA has identified possible concerns about product bundling, default settings and interoperability between Microsoft's software and competing services. These are issues being investigated, not established findings of unlawful conduct.
What would Strategic Market Status mean?
If the CMA ultimately designates Microsoft with SMS in this activity, it could consider targeted competition requirements, subject to the relevant statutory processes. SMS designation itself is not a finding that a company has broken competition law.
The CMA's published timetable anticipates a proposed decision for consultation in October 2026 and a final decision by February 2027. The statutory deadline for any SMS decision notice is 13 February 2027. Timetables can change.
Has a new decision been made?
As of this article's preparation on 16 October 2026, the publicly available CMA case record consulted for this report does not independently confirm a new proposed designation announcement on that date. The verified development is the continuing formal investigation. Microsoft has not been confirmed as designated under this investigation, and no new fine is being reported here.
Why does it matter to British businesses?
The CMA says more than 15 million commercial users across the UK use Microsoft's business software ecosystem. Its investigation considers whether businesses and public-sector customers have sufficient choice and can combine or switch to competing software and AI products.