Public announcements by Microsoft or reliable business news sources

Microsoft Relocates 700-800 China-Based AI Staff Amid US-China Tensions

May 16, 2024, 06:56 AM

Microsoft has decided to relocate its entire China-based AI team, comprising more than 400 employees, to the United States effective immediately. This move is part of a broader strategy to ask hundreds of employees in its China-based cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations to consider transferring outside the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is asking about 700 to 800 employees, mostly engineers with Chinese nationality, to relocate to countries including the US, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. This development comes amid escalating US-China tensions over critical technologies, WSJ reports.