Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into Microsoft, the company said, in the latest setback for US tech companies viewed with growing distrust by Beijing.

Officials from the Chinese government agency that enforces its antimonopoly laws, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, paid unannounced visits to Microsoft's offices in four Chinese cities, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

Latest moves by China's authorities cap a rocky period for Microsoft in the country. Credit:Bloomberg

"There was a visit from government officials to our offices," she told The New York Times. "Given the sensitivity of the issue, I can't say any more."

Still considered the largest and most promising destination for global tech companies due to its huge market and the increasingly insatiable appetite for its surging middle class for the latest technology, tensions between the United States and China in particular have ratcheted up in recent months, with both sides trading accusations of spying and cyber-hacking on both sides.