Google must provide rival AI services equal access to its features and other search engine platforms access to data, the EU said on Tuesday, as it said it would help the giant over six months to comply with rules.
The EU executive said it would launch proceedings to help Google prepare measures in line with its flagship rulebook, the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Under the DMA, the world's biggest tech companies must open up to competition to give consumers more options and limit abuses linked to market dominance.
US President Donald Trump's government has railed against the law and its sister content moderation law the Digital Services Act, accusing Brussels of unfairly targeting US firms.
The European Commission wants to ensure Google gives rival AI service providers equal access to its Android operating system, and demands the American titan grants competing search engines access to search data.
Brussels believes the move will allow rivals "to optimise their services and offer users genuine alternatives to Google Search".
The EU step is not a formal investigation that could lead to fines.
But if Brussels is not satisfied with Google's efforts, it can later conclude the company is not complying.
And any DMA violations can lead to fines of up to 10 percent of a company's total global turnover.
"We want to help Google by explaining in more detail how it should comply with its interoperability and online search data sharing obligations under the Digital Markets Act," EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
Google pushed back, insisting Android is open by design.
"We're already licensing search data to competitors under the DMA," Google's senior competition counsel Clare Kelly said in a statement.
"However, we are concerned that further rules which are often driven by competitor grievances rather than the interest of consumers, will compromise user privacy, security, and innovation."
The commission said it would conclude the proceedings within six months.
Google already faces a fine under the DMA for favouring its own services in a probe launched in March 2024.
The giant has also been subject to a separate DMA probe since November over suspicions it pushed down news outlets in search results.
The scrutiny does not end with the DMA. Google also faces cases under the bloc's competition rules.
In December, the EU said it had opened a probe to assess whether Google breached antitrust rules by using content put online by media and other publishers to train and provide AI services without appropriate compensation.
That came after the EU slapped Google with a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) fine in September for breaking competition rules.
Microsoft shares slide as AI spending surges
San Francisco, United States (AFP) Jan 28, 2026 –
Microsoft on Wednesday reported a 60 percent jump in net income for the last quarter of 2025, but spending on artificial intelligence surged, rattling investors.
Shares in the cloud and software giant sank about five percent in after-hours trading, with investors keeping a close eye on capital expenditures as the company spends heavily in the AI race against rivals Google, Amazon and Meta.
The company said that capital expenditures, which largely consist of the massive build-out for AI and cloud infrastructure, grew by 66 percent to $37.5 billion.
Investors are also looking at Microsoft's ties to OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Microsoft now holds a 27 percent stake in OpenAI, which has quickly grown to become the world's most valuable private company with a $500 billion valuation, but which some feel is overspending.
Analysts expressed worry that a sizeable chunk of Microsoft's expected revenue over the coming quarters was from a financially overstretched OpenAI.
Microsoft said about 45 percent of its remaining cloud commitments are from OpenAI.
OpenAI is the leader in generative AI technology, but is required to raise billions every year to meet its huge expenses for computing and top engineering talent.
Beating expectations, Microsoft posted net income of $38.5 billion on revenue of $81.3 billion for the three months ending December 31.
This was up from $24.1 billion in profit on $69.6 billion in revenue a year earlier.
Analysts said that the net income figure was boosted by gains booked from Microsoft's investment in OpenAI.
Azure and other cloud services, Microsoft's most closely watched segment, saw revenue surge 39 percent, roughly in line with expectations.
The company said demand for cloud services continues to exceed available supply.
With this earnings result, "Microsoft didn't declare victory on AI-but it made a credible case that the spending has a path to payback," said Emarketer principal analyst Jeremy Goldman.
The LinkedIn professional network saw revenue grow 11 percent while revenue from Xbox gaming content and services decreased five percent. Hardware sales for Xbox were down 32 percent.
