EU Commission wants to classify AWS and Azure as gatekeepers – cloud business falls under DMA rules

The Brussels competition authority said on Thursday that, after an initial review, it had arrived at the preliminary assessment that "the largest and second-largest cloud computing services in the EU" should be designated as so-called gatekeepers. Specifically, the case concerns the two market leaders Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, which together dominate the European market for cloud infrastructure.

What is the Digital Markets Act?

The background to the proceedings is the Digital Markets Act, which is intended to limit the market power of large digital corporations. Under the DMA, a company can be designated as a gatekeeper if it "is economically strong, has a significant impact on the European market and operates in several EU countries." The Commission considers these requirements to be met by AWS and Azure.

Unlike classical antitrust proceedings, the DMA requires quantitative thresholds based on fixed user numbers. According to the Commission, AWS and Azure miss these thresholds. Nevertheless, the authority considers the two services to be so-called bottlenecks between businesses and their end customers in the EU – that is, structures that business customers can hardly bypass.

As justification, the Commission's documents state that the cloud services had "generated substantial revenue, and their operational performance and investments appear to have significantly outpaced those of competitors." Market leadership, it says, has been cemented over many years.

Why AWS and Azure are in the crosshairs

The Commission also points to the importance of artificial intelligence: cloud data centres form the backbone for the training and operation of AI models. Brussels notes: "While AI is significantly increasing demand for cloud-related services, AWS and Azure appear to capture a large share of this additional demand within their respective ecosystems." Both corporations would cover almost all of their need for AI capacity in-house, including through proprietary AI tools and strategic partnerships.

Cloud computing is "a critical resource for the entire European economy" and no longer purely a digital issue, the Commission emphasises. According to the Commission, more than half of all EU companies use cloud servers. Given this market penetration, the authority views the sector as a central lever of digitalization.

The authority also criticises the market structure: competitors have little room to manoeuvre in a highly vertically integrated market. Large providers benefit from lock-in effects and extremely high switching costs that make it almost impossible for business customers to switch platforms. This applies in particular to AI-adjacent services, which are deeply embedded in existing cloud environments.

Reactions from Seattle and Redmond

Both Amazon and Microsoft have already been designated as gatekeepers under the DMA for other services – a circumstance that supports the Commission's argument. The Dutch market authority ACM also backed the EU Commission's investigation.

The investigations, launched in November 2025, were conducted by the Commission's competition authority. Should the Commission confirm its preliminary assessment, Amazon and Microsoft would have six months after a formal decision to ensure "full compliance" with the DMA obligations. These include interoperable interfaces, facilitated data portability, and a prohibition on favouring their own services on the platform.

Violations can be punished with fines of up to ten percent of global revenue, and up to 20 percent in case of repeated offences. This makes the proceedings also an economically significant intervention in the business models of both corporations.

Fines and consequences for the corporations

A spokesperson for Amazon's AWS service criticised Brussels' assessment, saying it threatened to "slow down investment and innovation in Europe." At the same time, AWS announced it would "continue the dialogue with the Commission." Microsoft also said the company would continue its "constructive" exchange with the EU Commission. "We continue to work constructively with the Commission," a Microsoft spokesperson said. The cloud sector in Europe was "innovative, highly competitive and an accelerator of growth for the entire economy."

In parallel, a separate analysis is underway in which the Commission is examining whether the existing DMA obligations are sufficient to effectively combat unfair practices in the cloud sector. This could mean the digital markets rulebook is tightened further, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing gatekeeper proceedings.

On the stock markets, the news triggered share price losses: Amazon stock, listed on NASDAQ, temporarily lost 3.06 percent to $227.11, while Microsoft stock fell 2.25 percent to $357.25 at the same time. Investors view a potential gatekeeper designation as a risk to the business models of both companies' cloud divisions.

Outlook: What could happen now

The Commission emphasises that cloud services are now considered critical infrastructure – comparable to energy or telecommunications networks. The planned designation could therefore have a signalling effect beyond the DMA's previous scope of application and serve as a benchmark for future regulation of other digital infrastructures.

What is clear is that with the consultation procedure now opened, the decisive phase has begun. In the coming weeks, both corporations can submit objections and present their own data on the market situation. Only then will the Commission decide whether to confirm its preliminary assessment in a formal decision.