EU Moves to Brand AWS and Azure as DMA Gatekeepers in First Cloud Crackdown

Brussels Targets the Cloud

The European Commission on 25 June 2026 issued preliminary findings that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated as "gatekeepers" under the Digital Markets Act. It is the first time the bloc's strictest digital competition rules have been pointed at the cloud computing market, marking a significant expansion beyond the consumer-facing platforms the DMA was originally written for.

Notably, AWS and Azure do not meet the DMA's standard quantitative thresholds for designation. Instead, the Commission relied on a qualitative assessment under Article 3(8), finding that the two services function as "an important gateway between businesses and their customers." The regulator cited their dominant market positions, revenues, operational capacity, and investments as having outpaced rivals.

A 70 Percent Grip

The two US tech giants control an estimated 70% of European cloud infrastructure revenue, with AWS the largest and Azure the second-largest provider in the EU. The combined share of the pair has climbed from around 47% in 2020 to over 55% by some 2026 measures, depending on how the market is sliced. The Commission also flagged the emerging role of cloud in artificial intelligence, warning that control over computing resources and foundation models could foreclose opportunities for European AI startups.

What Gatekeeper Status Would Mean

If the designation is confirmed, both companies would face a sweeping set of obligations. These include interoperability and data portability requirements provided free of charge, curbs on customer lock-in, and restrictions on self-preferencing their own AI and database tools. The push is expected to force an overhaul of cloud egress fees, the charges levied when customers move data out of a provider, which critics see as a barrier to multi-cloud adoption. Standardised APIs and documented interfaces would also be mandated.

Non-compliance could trigger fines of up to 10% of global turnover, rising to 20% for repeated violations.

What Comes Next

The designation is not yet final. Amazon and Microsoft now have the right to review the Commission's documents and respond in writing, with Microsoft reportedly having until September 2026 to submit its arguments. A definitive decision is expected by the end of 2026. If the designation proceeds, the companies would have six months to achieve full compliance, pushing the deadline to around mid-2027.

The move follows two market investigations launched on 18 November 2025 and a seven-month probe into market dominance and lock-in effects. Both firms are already gatekeepers for other services under the DMA, but cloud computing had previously sat outside the regulation's scope, leaving a roughly 220 billion euro market untouched until now.