The DoJ will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google illegally monopolised the search market, to require measures related to artificial intelligence and its Android smartphone operating system.

Antitrust officials, along with states that have joined the case, plan to recommend that federal judge Amit Mehta impose data licensing requirements. If Mehta goes for that, they could reshape the online search market and the burgeoning AI industry.

The case, filed under the first Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden, represents the most aggressive effort to rein in a technology company since Washington unsuccessfully sought to break up Microsoft two decades ago.

Owning the world’s most popular web browser is key for Google’s ads business, allowing the company to see activity from signed-in users and use that data to target promotions more effectively.

Google has also been using Chrome to direct users to its flagship AI product, Gemini.

Analyst Mandeep Singh said that should a sale proceed, Chrome would be worth “at least $15-$20 billion, given it has over 3 billion monthly active users.”

However, the price might depend on the ability of prospective buyers to link Chrome to other services.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said the Justice Department “continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.”

She added, “the government putting its thumb on the scale in these ways would harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed.”

Google wrote in its bog that if other companies owned Chrome, they wouldn’t have the incentive to invest as heavily in it or keep it free, and would likely have to change its business model.

The judge has set a two-week hearing in April on what changes Google must make to remedy the illegal behaviour and plans to issue a final ruling by August 2025.

Of course, then Google will appeal to the highest court in the land.