The European Commission issued preliminary findings on 25 June that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure — the world's two largest cloud computing platforms — should be designated as 'gatekeepers' under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). The conclusion follows a seven-month investigation and marks the most significant expansion of the landmark law since it came into force.
The DMA is the EU's primary tool for regulating large digital platforms. It sets out a list of obligations — and outright bans — designed to prevent dominant companies from abusing their market position. Until now, it has applied to consumer-facing services: app stores, search engines, social networks, and messaging platforms. Extending it to cloud infrastructure is a new frontier entirely.
What gatekeeper status would mean in practice
If the preliminary findings lead to a formal designation, AWS and Azure would face a substantial set of new obligations. These include requirements to ensure interoperability with rival services, allow customers to move their data to other providers at no extra cost, and end practices that steer users toward their own products over competitors' offerings — a practice known as self-preferencing. The Commission also singled out both companies' significant market positions, entrenched user bases, high switching costs, and the increasingly decisive role their AI tools play in cloud procurement decisions.
“"Cloud services have become a cornerstone of Europe's economy — and a prerequisite for AI — with over half of EU businesses now relying on them," said Henna Virkkunen, the EU's Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.”
AWS and Azure together account for more than 65% of EU cloud infrastructure revenue, according to Synergy Research Group data from the first quarter of 2026. European providers — including OVHcloud, Hetzner, and Scaleway — have long argued they cannot compete while the two US giants maintain egress fees (charges for moving data out of their platforms) and proprietary licensing structures that make switching prohibitively expensive. Those European providers currently hold around 15% of EU cloud market revenue combined.
The companies push back — and point at each other
Both companies rejected the Commission's preliminary conclusions, though on different grounds. AWS argued that the EU already regulates cloud through the Data Act, and that layering the DMA on top risks deterring the billions of euros in data centre investment it has committed across Europe. Microsoft took a different angle, pointing to a rival it says regulators have overlooked.
“"We remain concerned that ignoring the growing power of Google Cloud and Gemini will tilt the market in a harmful way," a Microsoft spokesperson said.”
Both companies now have the opportunity to respond formally before any final decision is taken — a process industry observers expect to last eight to twelve weeks. A final determination is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2026. Should either company be formally designated and subsequently found in breach of DMA obligations, fines can reach 10% of global annual turnover, rising to 20% for repeat violations. Both are widely expected to mount legal challenges in EU courts, which could delay implementation for years even if the designation is confirmed.
A politically charged moment
The timing adds a geopolitical dimension to what is, on its face, a competition law matter. The DMA has already drawn criticism from Washington: the Trump administration has framed EU tech regulation as an attack on American companies, and Apple and Meta have already been fined €500 million and €200 million respectively for separate DMA violations. Bringing the cloud infrastructure used by much of the world's economy under the same framework — and targeting two of the US's largest technology exporters — is likely to intensify that friction at a moment when transatlantic trade relations are already under strain.
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