The European Commission announced that the ‘cloud’ computing services of Amazon and Microsoft should be designated as ‘gatekeepers’ under the Digital Markets Act – DMA, even though they do not meet the quantitative thresholds set out in the regulation. In its preliminary decision, the institution considers that Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are respectively the first and second largest cloud service providers in the European Union, with a combined market share of approximately 60%, and as such represent a crucial gateway between businesses and their customers in the EU (see EUROPE 13754/11).
In its preliminary decision, already communicated to the two companies, which now have the opportunity to challenge it, the Commission highlights the “significant turnover” generated by AWS and Microsoft Azure, their operational capacities and their investments, which “seem to have significantly outpaced those of competitors”, and the fact that they both have “vast and entrenched user bases”, apparently benefiting from ‘lock-in’ effects and high switching costs.
The Commission also notes that “their portfolio of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and partnerships have become a decisive factor in cloud procurement” and that AWS and Azure “appear to retain a large proportion” of the increase in demand for AI-related cloud services within their respective ecosystems.
“This is not about European players vs US players. We’re not looking at the flags of different companies”, said the Commission spokesperson for competition, Ricardo Cardoso, on Thursday 25 June. He emphasised that this preliminary decision aims to maintain an “open, fair and contestable” sector, noting that “around 60% of the European cloud market is in the hands of these two players” and that cloud services have become “the backbone” of all sectors. Their importance becomes even clearer in the event of a failure or service interruption, he added.
When asked whether this decision could pave the way for a similar designation of Google’s cloud services, the Commission indicated that “Google Cloud does not appear to occupy a comparable dominant position”. “We will continue to monitor the sector”, the spokesperson stated.
A market investigation into cloud services still under way. Regarding the third market investigation launched by the Commission in November 2025 into cloud services, which is “still ongoing”, it presents a broader scope of analysis to assess whether the obligations currently stipulated by the DMA effectively address the challenges observed in this sector. The Commission intends to publish its final report “within 18 months” of the investigation’s launch. Based on the results of this analysis, the Commission could then propose an update to the obligations stipulated by the DMA to take into account the particular characteristics of the cloud sector. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)