EU Moves to Designate AWS and Azure as DMA Gatekeepers in First Cloud Test of the Digital Markets Act
The European Commission's preliminary view targets Amazon's and Microsoft's cloud arms, the first DMA designation made without meeting the law's quantitative thresholds.
Overview
The European Commission announced on 25 June 2026 that it had reached a preliminary position that Amazon and Microsoft should be designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for their cloud computing services, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure (Azure), according to the European Commission. If confirmed, it would extend the EU’s flagship competition rulebook to cloud infrastructure for the first time.
The move is notable for how the Commission reached it. The Commission states that AWS and Azure are “the largest and second largest cloud computing services in the EU respectively” and “an important gateway between businesses and their customers in the EU,” adding that this is the case “despite them not meeting the DMA’s quantitative thresholds for designation,” per the European Commission. According to AI Weekly, applying gatekeeper status without the services meeting the law’s quantitative thresholds is a first in the regulation’s history.
What We Know
The DMA designates the largest “gatekeeper” platforms and imposes obligations intended to keep digital markets contestable. Where a company does not meet the quantitative thresholds, the Commission can still open a market investigation and rely on qualitative criteria. In this case, The Register reports that the two providers “both have vast and entrenched user bases and appear to benefit from lock-in effects and high switching costs, in addition to a large ecosystem,” and that they “did not meet the DMA’s quantitative thresholds for designation (such as user numbers).”
The scale of the two providers in Europe is central to the Commission’s reasoning. AWS and Azure held roughly 65 to 70 percent of EU cloud revenue in the first quarter of 2026, according to AI Weekly, citing Synergy Research Group data.
The decision announced this week is preliminary, not final. Amazon and Microsoft “now have the opportunity to respond before any final decisions are taken,” the European Commission said. According to AI Weekly, the companies have until September 2026 to submit written representations, with a final Commission decision expected by late October.
If the designation is confirmed, the cloud services would have to comply with DMA obligations including “limits on self-preferencing and requirements to ensure interoperability and data portability,” as reported by Global Banking & Finance Review. Companies that fail to meet DMA requirements can face fines of up to 10 percent of worldwide turnover, according to The Register.
In announcing the preliminary view, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen said that “Cloud services have become a cornerstone of Europe’s economy - and a prerequisite for AI,” and that “these services must operate in fair, open and competitive markets that foster trust,” according to Global Banking & Finance Review. Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition Teresa Ribera also commented on the growing importance of competitive cloud markets, per the European Commission.
Both companies pushed back. An AWS spokesperson said that “adding another heavy layer of overlapping regulation under the DMA undermines European competitiveness,” while a Microsoft spokesperson argued that “ignoring the growing power of Google Cloud and Gemini will tilt the market in a harmful way,” according to Global Banking & Finance Review. Amazon also pointed to a Copenhagen Economics study showing “more than 200 active European cloud providers that have held a roughly 15% share of revenue since 2022,” as reported by PYMNTS.
What We Don’t Know
The Commission’s position is preliminary, and the companies’ written representations have not yet been filed, so the final scope of any designation remains open. It is also unclear precisely which DMA obligations would apply to cloud services and how they would be implemented in practice, since the law was originally written around platforms such as marketplaces, app stores, search, and messaging rather than infrastructure-as-a-service. The exact compliance timeline that would follow a confirmed designation has not been detailed in the materials reviewed here.
Analysis
The preliminary position is significant less for its immediate legal effect than for the precedent it sets. By proposing to designate AWS and Azure despite their not meeting the DMA’s quantitative thresholds, the Commission is signaling that it will use the law’s qualitative route to reach parts of the digital economy the original thresholds did not anticipate. Cloud infrastructure, which underpins much of the software and increasingly the AI services that businesses across Europe depend on, is now squarely within that reach. Whether the designation survives the companies’ representations and any subsequent challenge will shape how far the DMA’s gatekeeper regime can stretch beyond consumer-facing platforms.