The European Commission’s preliminary finding that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should fall under the Digital Markets Act would extend EU platform regulation into the cloud infrastructure on which business, public services and artificial intelligence increasingly depend.
The European Commission has opened a new front in its regulation of Big Tech after reaching the preliminary view that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act.
The move, announced on 25 June, would bring the two largest cloud computing services in the EU within one of Brussels’ most interventionist digital laws. Until now, the DMA has been associated mainly with consumer-facing services such as search engines, app stores, operating systems, social media platforms, online marketplaces and advertising services.
Cloud computing is a different test. It sits behind the visible digital economy, providing the infrastructure used by companies, public authorities and artificial intelligence developers to store data, run software and scale digital services. By moving towards DMA designation for AWS and Azure, the Commission is signalling that control over cloud infrastructure may be treated as a gateway problem in its own right.
The Commission said it had informed Amazon and Microsoft of its preliminary view that their cloud services should be designated under the Digital Markets Act. It described AWS as the largest cloud computing service in the EU and Azure as the second largest. It also said both services appeared to act as important gateways between businesses and their customers.
The finding is not a final decision. Amazon and Microsoft can respond before the Commission concludes the process. If designation follows, DMA obligations would apply after a compliance period. In its earlier review work, the Commission said that, should AWS or Azure be designated, the obligations would start applying six months after the designation.
The issue goes beyond market share. The Commission’s case rests on the role of AWS and Azure in business dependency, switching costs, lock-in effects and large surrounding ecosystems. It also pointed to the importance of artificial intelligence tools and partnerships in cloud procurement, saying these had become a decisive factor in customers’ choices.
That makes the case politically sharper than a standard competition file. The EU is already seeking to reduce its reliance on non-European technology providers in strategically important areas. Cloud infrastructure is now central to AI development, public-sector digitisation, banking, healthcare, energy systems and industrial software. A regulatory decision that affects AWS and Azure therefore carries implications for procurement, investment, data governance and transatlantic trade.
Under the DMA, designated gatekeepers face obligations intended to keep digital markets open and contestable. In the cloud context, reporting by Reuters said these could include restrictions on self-preferencing and requirements linked to interoperability and data portability. For business users, the practical issue is whether customers can move data and workloads between providers without excessive cost, contractual friction or technical dependency.
Amazon and Microsoft are already covered by the DMA for other services. The Commission’s gatekeeper portal lists Amazon Marketplace and Amazon Advertising as designated core platform services. Microsoft is listed for LinkedIn and Windows PC OS. Adding AWS and Azure would widen the regulatory perimeter from digital platforms used by consumers and advertisers to enterprise infrastructure used across the economy.
The companies have pushed back. AWS has argued that Europe already has extensive cloud regulation and that further DMA obligations could affect investment and access to technology. Microsoft has warned that focusing on Azure while excluding Google Cloud could distort competition, particularly as AI services become more important in cloud purchasing decisions.
Those objections point to the wider difficulty facing Brussels. The Commission wants to limit dependency and improve contestability, but the providers it is targeting are also major investors in European cloud capacity, data centres and AI infrastructure. Regulation aimed at reducing lock-in could therefore sit alongside concern that heavy compliance burdens may affect investment decisions.
The timing is also relevant. Earlier this month, the Commission advanced its wider push for European cloud and AI capacity, including measures intended to support “made-in-Europe” infrastructure and reduce dependence on US technology providers. The AWS and Azure DMA process now gives that industrial-policy debate an enforcement edge. It is no longer only about funding European alternatives. It is also about placing legal constraints on the dominant incumbents.
For European customers, the immediate impact is limited because no final designation has yet been made. The more important question is whether the Commission can adapt a law designed around digital gatekeepers to the technical and contractual realities of cloud computing. Cloud customers are often large businesses or public bodies, not ordinary consumers. Their dependence may arise less from app-store access or search visibility than from data architecture, software integration, security requirements and procurement risk.
That is why the case is likely to be watched closely by governments, enterprise customers, rival cloud providers and US officials. If the Commission confirms its view, Brussels will have extended the DMA into one of the core layers of the digital economy. The decision would not settle Europe’s cloud-sovereignty debate, but it would mark a clear shift in how the EU treats infrastructure power in the age of artificial intelligence.
