The operator of the Azure cloud platform is calling on the White House to abandon plans to restrict imports of new optical transceivers from China. Microsoft warned that such a ban on the high-speed networking components would severely disrupt the deployment of AI infrastructure, noting that a lack of accessible hardware could damage U.S. competitiveness in the artificial intelligence race against Beijing.
The Trump administration has considered the restrictions due to concerns that Chinese hardware could be used to steal data or plant malware in U.S. facilities. However, China controls approximately 67% of the global market for these components, and Microsoft argues that domestic producers Coherent and Lumentum lack the production scale to replace the supply chain. The company currently has 35 U.S. data centers under construction and another 134 planned.
