The European Commission has told Amazon and Microsoft it preliminarily considers their cloud computing services — Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure — should be designated as “gatekeepers” under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
The Commission declared in a statement on Thursday that it considers AWS and Azure the largest and second-largest cloud services in the EU respectively, and an “important gateway” for businesses to reach customers, even though the services do not meet the law’s quantitative thresholds for designation.
Amazon and Microsoft have already been designated as gatekeepers for other services, and their cloud businesses have achieved significant turnover, with operational capacity and investment that “seem to have significantly outpaced” competitors, the Commission added.
It also cited “lock-in effects” and high switching costs — meaning customers can find it difficult or expensive to move to a rival provider — alongside large user bases and wider ecosystems around each company’s cloud offering.
AI tools and cloud demand in focus
The Commission said the companies’ portfolios of artificial intelligence tools and partnerships have become a “decisive factor” in cloud procurement, with AI also increasing demand for cloud services.
AWS and Azure appear to retain a large proportion of that increased demand within their respective ecosystems.
The Commission opened market investigations on 18 November 2025 to assess whether Amazon and Microsoft should be designated as gatekeepers for AWS and Azure, saying it gathered input from business users, competitors and other stakeholders.
Amazon and Microsoft can now review the Commission’s file and respond in writing, and if the preliminary findings are confirmed the Commission would adopt decisions formally designating AWS and Azure as gatekeeper services.
If designated, Amazon and Microsoft would have six months to ensure their cloud services comply with the DMA’s obligations.
