Microsoft (MSFT) shares declined 2.2% on Tuesday, pressured by competitive moves from AI rival Anthropic and a report that the company is urging the Trump administration to reconsider a potential US import ban on Chinese optical receivers.
Anthropic, which is backed by Microsoft among other tech giants, rolled out new workplace tools for its Claude AI assistant, including Claude Whiteboards and Claude Sheets in beta, and made Claude Dashboards generally available. These tools expand the range of tasks users can perform with the AI, potentially intensifying competition in the enterprise software market where Microsoft holds a strong position.
Claude Whiteboards is a collaborative feature that lets employees brainstorm with Claude and turn ideas into documents or slide decks, with integrations for platforms like Lucid, Miro, and Zoho's Vani. Claude Sheets enables users to build and edit spreadsheets with AI assistance, making changes directly in cells while tracking each edit. The tool supports export to XLSX or CSV and connects with services such as Airtable, Asana, monday.com, and Smartsheet. Claude Dashboards, previously in beta, allows employees to query company data stored in services like Amazon Redshift, BigQuery, and ClickHouse.
The new and updated tools are available across Anthropic's paid plans, signaling a broader push into enterprise productivity software—a market where Microsoft's Office and Azure offerings are dominant. This competitive pressure comes as investors weigh the impact of AI on established software providers.
Earlier in the session, Microsoft had overtaken Nvidia to become the world's second most valuable company, but Nvidia reclaimed the title after Microsoft's shares slipped. Nvidia's own decline was tied to broader uncertainty about AI and an investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort.
Anthropic's planned IPO is expected to value the company at up to $1.4 trillion, with a separate private placement raising $26 billion from cornerstone investors including Alphabet, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Goldman Sachs projects Anthropic will generate $685 billion in revenue by 2030, with over $550 billion from enterprise sales.
Separately, Reuters reported that Microsoft is urging the Trump administration to reconsider a potential US import ban on new models of Chinese optical receivers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is drafting restrictions over concerns that the Chinese government could use the components to steal data, disrupt services, or install malware. Microsoft argues it needs the equipment to complete its data centre projects and warns that slowing the US data centre buildout could give China an edge in the AI race.
Microsoft currently has 35 data centre sites under construction in the US, according to Cleanview data. China accounts for most optical transceiver production, and while US companies like Coherent and Lumentum also manufacture the components, their output is not yet sufficient to replace Chinese supply. The Information Technology Industry Council has urged the FCC not to include optical transceivers in the restrictions, citing potential disruptions to data centre deployment and US AI leadership. The FCC is specifically considering restrictions on transceivers capable of 3.2 terabits per second, with production of those models not expected to ramp up until 2028.
These developments come as investors assess the sustainability of AI-driven growth and the infrastructure needed to support it, with Microsoft's stock reflecting both competitive and regulatory uncertainties.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
