Microsoft's China staff get transfer option

Microsoft is asking some of its China-based employees to consider transferring outside the country, the company said yesterday, as relations between the United States and China grow increasingly strained over technologies like artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

The Wall Street Journal said Microsoft is asking about 700 to 800 employees who are involved in machine learning and cloud computing to consider relocating.

"Providing internal opportunities is a regular part of managing our global business. As part of this process, we shared an optional internal transfer opportunity with a subset of employees," a Microsoft spokesperson said, without specifying the number of employees it sent the request to.

Microsoft remains committed to China and will continue to operate there and other markets, the spokesperson said.

The employees, mostly engineers of Chinese nationality, were earlier in the week offered an option to transfer to the US, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, the WSJ reported.