Microsoft is asking about 700 to 800 employees in its China-based cloud-computing and artificial intelligence divisions to consider transferring outside the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The employees, mainly engineers with Chinese nationality, were offered the option earlier this week to transfer to countries such as the U.S., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, the report said, citing sources familiar with the situation.
This move comes as US-China relations deteriorate, with the Biden administration cracking down on various Chinese imports, including electric vehicle (EV) batteries, computer chips, and medical products.
A Microsoft spokesperson told the Journal that providing internal opportunities is part of its global business and confirmed the company had shared an optional internal transfer opportunity with a subset of employees.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the U.S. Commerce Department is considering new regulations to restrict the export of proprietary or closed-source AI models, whose software and training data are kept confidential.
The spokesperson, however, assured the newspaper that the company remains committed to the region and will continue to operate in China.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a Bollywoodfever request for comment.
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