I started working on this story a year ago, and this is the right week to get it out. How Microsoft laid roots in China, and seeded its future tech leaders, including TikTok's Zhang Yiming. “The soft power of Microsoft in China is immense." (thread) https://www.ft.com/content/b02d5324-07e6-48ac-b658-b8c400d9b4fc

2/ In the 1990s, when Microsoft entered China, there were few opportunities for computer scientists to do cutting-edge research. I mean — there were few computers! Some, like my dad, left to study abroad. Those who stayed, tried to get into Microsoft Research in Beijing.

3/ Over two decades on, Microsoft has mentored and trained the talent behind China's consumer tech explosion. That brought Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming to approach them once President Trump threatened to ban TikTok if it wasn't sold to an American company.

4/ Microsoft serves an interesting "model citizen" case study for other foreign companies in China. I would say it has done the best out of its China connections, not just at an elite politics level, but in seeding entrepreneurs who say "once a Microsoftie, always a Microsoftie."

5/ Yet, as one former exec said, the company’s good relationships “are not going to change the future of China”. China is bent on replacing foreign technology as fast as it can, and the US sanctions have only added to its belief that US suppliers could be cut off at any point.

6/ As for Microsoft's ethics in China: the company has tried to minimise its exposure to data requests, getting rid of its blogging & email platforms. But over the years it's acquired 2 of the 3 remaining foreign-owned big user-generated content platforms: @linkedin & @github

7/ Microsoft has been light-touch with its acquired units. Github so far has been a model of censorship transparency, posting in full the take-down notices that governments send it. On that front, Apple in China is much more opaque when it takes down apps