Efforts by U.S. antitrust regulators to break up Alphabet by forcing a sale of its Google Chrome browser and other proposals to limit its search dominance are likely to run into legal challenges on grounds the remedies are extreme.

The spinoff would be a major blow to the tech giant and will likely kick off a legal fight with wide-reaching implications for its core business.

Google's Chrome browser provides valuable distribution for the company's dominant search engine. Can it thrive without this?