Microsoft is one of the American technology with the greatest experience in China. He began operating in the country in 1992 and has since maintained several research centers. However, in recent months it has given replication signs in a context of growing geopolitical tensions.
In May last year, it transpired that the company had started efforts to relocate between 700 and 800 employees, in addition to having carried out layoffs and closing its physical stores in the country. Now adds a new step: the closure of one of its most relevant laboratories in Zhangjiang, Shanghai.
The label disappears, Microsoft too. According to Asian media such as South China Morning E Post and It Home, the IoT & AI Insider Lab, created to promote national development in Internet Technologies (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), closed its doors earlier this year. The offices are empty and the company’s poster has already been removed.
The laboratory was in a strategic area of Shanghai, surrounded by key names of the technological sector. In that environment, companies such as Infineon Technologies, German semiconductor manufacturer, Baidu, the Chinese giant of internet searches, and the Commercial Aircraft manufacturer, have a presence.
Zhangjiang High Technology Park (Baidu Maps capture)
A Center with Global Ambition. The laboratory was inaugurated in May 2019 as a joint initiative between Microsoft China and the Zhangjiang state group. Its objective was to support the development of IA E IOT technologies applied to sectors such as industry, health, finance or retail trade.
The IoT & AI Insider Lab in its inauguration in 2019
With an area of 2,800 square meters, it became the largest center of this type of Microsoft outside the United States. During his five years of operation, he supported 258 projects of about 100 companies. More than 50 of them captured financing worth 9.4 billion yuan (about 1.3 billion dollars). He also generated 139 technological developments and trained about 10,000 professionals.
A replication underway. As we point out above, the closure of this center does not arrive by surprise. In 2023, Microsoft had already begun to offer relocations to employees of the Artificial Intelligence Area, in addition to closing all its physical stores in China and applying personnel cuts.
In parallel, the company has hardened its internal security policies. According to Bloomberg, in 2024 he urged all his employees in China to use exclusively iPhones to access corporate platforms. The measure was related to the lack of access to Google Play in the country, which prevented the use of applications such as Microsoft Authenticator or Identity Pass on Android.
In the search for greater security The withdrawal in China coincides with an internal security review in Microsoft, after a wave of criticism for the management of computer attacks. A Russian group, identified as Midnight Blizzard, accessed corporate accounts and stole sensitive emails sent between federal agencies and the company.
Imagenes | Microsoft | ABOODA VESAKARAN | Baidu maps capture
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