The European Commission announced a new market investigation on November 18 2025 into Amazon’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft’s Azure, two of the world’s largest cloud infrastructure providers. The probe is conducted under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and seeks to determine whether the services should be classified as “gatekeepers” even though they do not meet the DMA’s standard quantitative thresholds for size, user numbers, or market position.
Under the DMA, a platform is considered a gatekeeper if it controls an “important gateway” between businesses and consumers. AWS and Azure are evaluated on this basis because they dominate the global cloud market—AWS holds roughly 31‑34 % of worldwide infrastructure revenue, while Azure commands about 20‑25 %. In the European Union, the two services together account for an estimated 60‑65 % of the cloud infrastructure market, a figure that places them well above the 25 % EU market‑share threshold that typically triggers gatekeeper status. The Commission’s inquiry will assess whether their market power and the nature of their services create barriers to entry or lock‑in for EU customers.
The investigation also incorporates financial context that underscores the significance of the two platforms. In the most recent fiscal year, AWS generated $62.5 billion in revenue, up 12 % from the prior year, while Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud segment—of which Azure is a major component—reported $56.3 billion, a 9 % increase. These figures illustrate the scale of the potential fines and the economic weight of the services in the EU market. The Commission will also examine whether AWS and Azure’s pricing, data‑access policies, and bundling practices—such as tying storage services to compute instances or limiting interoperability with third‑party tools—constitute gatekeeping practices that could stifle competition.
If the Commission designates either service as a gatekeeper, the companies would have six months to comply with the DMA’s obligations, which include opening up APIs, ensuring data portability, and preventing discriminatory pricing. Failure to comply could trigger fines of up to 10 % of global annual revenue, forced divestitures of certain services, or operational restrictions within the EU. The investigation does not cover Google Cloud, the third‑largest provider, because the Commission has chosen to focus its initial probes on the two services that together dominate the EU market and have been linked to recent high‑profile outages that raised concerns about reliability and competition.
The regulatory action carries significant business implications. For Amazon, a gatekeeper designation could reshape its EU strategy, potentially limiting the ability to bundle services and forcing the company to open its platform to competitors. For Microsoft, the outcome could influence its cloud pricing strategy and its broader push into AI and hybrid‑cloud solutions. The investigation also signals the EU’s broader commitment to digital sovereignty, aiming to reduce dependence on non‑European cloud providers and promote a more competitive digital ecosystem. Both companies have issued statements: Microsoft’s spokesperson emphasized the sector’s innovation and competitiveness, while AWS’s representative warned that gatekeeper status would “raise costs for European companies” and could stifle innovation.
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