EU moves to put AWS and Azure under ‘gatekeeper’ rules

TL;DR:

• EU antitrust regulators have made preliminary findings that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act.
• The label would impose curbs on self-preferencing and require interoperability and data portability from the world’s two largest cloud providers.
• It marks the first extension of the DMA from consumer platforms into cloud infrastructure, a sector Brussels calls “a prerequisite for AI”.

The European Commission has signalled it wants to bring cloud computing under its toughest tech rules. After a seven-month investigation, regulators said AWS and Microsoft Azure should be designated gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act — a step that would saddle them with obligations aimed at curbing market power, including limits on favouring their own services and requirements to ensure data can move and systems can interoperate.

From platforms to infrastructure

Until now the DMA has targeted search, social media and app stores. Extending it to cloud is a significant widening into the layer that underpins modern AI. “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,” tech chief Henna Virkkunen said, framing the move as protecting “tech sovereignty”. The Commission cited the two firms’ scale, entrenched user bases, lock-in effects and high switching costs, and pointed to their AI tools and partnerships as a decisive factor in how customers choose a cloud.

Both companies pushed back. Amazon said the assessment ignored the breadth of options available to European customers and risked deterring investment, arguing the Data Act already regulates cloud. Microsoft countered that overlooking “the growing power of Google Cloud and Gemini” would skew the market.

Why UK firms should watch

Although the DMA is an EU instrument, its reach matters for British businesses that run on the same hyperscalers and trade across the Channel. Cloud concentration sits beneath nearly every AI deployment, and the debate over dependence on a few US providers mirrors Britain’s own AI sovereignty discussions. A European precedent on portability and interoperability could shape what UK customers come to expect — and how UK regulators frame their own approach.

Looking forward

Amazon and Microsoft can now contest the preliminary findings before a final decision in the coming months. Whichever way it lands, the case establishes cloud infrastructure — not just consumer apps — as live territory for competition enforcement in the AI era.