EU Targets AWS and Microsoft Azure Under Digital Markets Act: What the Cloud Gatekeeper Ruling Means

Why the standard thresholds don't apply

The DMA's standard (quantitative) gatekeeper thresholds — €7.5 billion annual EEA turnover, €75 billion market cap, 45 million monthly active end users, and 10,000 yearly active business users — are designed for consumer-facing core platform services like app stores, search engines, and social networks . Cloud infrastructure services like AWS and Azure do not easily meet those user-based metrics.

Instead, the Commission invoked Article 3(8) of the DMA, which allows a "qualitative" designation through a market investigation when a service meets the three core criteria — (a) significant impact on the internal market, (b) operates as an important gateway for business users to reach end users, and (c) enjoys an entrenched and durable position — even if the standard quantitative thresholds are not satisfied . Two market investigations were opened on November 18, 2025 specifically to assess AWS and Azure under this qualitative pathway .

What obligations gatekeeper status would impose

If formally designated, AWS and Azure would become subject to the same DMA "do's and don'ts" (Articles 5, 6, and 7) that apply to other gatekeepers . These include:

• Interoperability obligations — allowing competing cloud services to interoperate with AWS and Azure
• Data portability — enabling business customers to transfer their data to rival cloud providers
• Fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) access to the platform
• Prohibition of anti-competitive self-preferencing — barring AWS and Azure from favoring their own services over those of competitors
• Ban on tying/bundling — preventing the companies from making use of one service conditional on use of another

Non-compliance carries fines of up to 10% of worldwide annual turnover, and up to 20% for repeat infringements .

Timeline and next steps

• The preliminary findings were sent to Amazon and Microsoft on June 25, 2026. Both companies now have the right to reply and present their defense before the Commission .
• The Commission aims to adopt a final designation decision within five months of the November 2025 investigation launch — meaning a binding decision is expected before the end of 2026 .
• If designated, AWS and Azure would then have six months to comply with all DMA obligations .

A significant expansion of the DMA's scope

This move represents a significant expansion of the DMA's reach. Until now, the regulation has targeted consumer-facing core platform services — app stores (Apple App Store, Google Play), messaging (Meta's WhatsApp/Messenger), social networks, search, advertising, and online marketplaces. Cloud computing was not originally envisioned as a core platform service under the DMA's standard definitions .

By using the qualitative market investigation tool under Article 3(8), the Commission is effectively broadening the DMA's scope to cover business-to-business infrastructure services that are critical to the European digital economy but lack the conventional "end-user" counts that trigger automatic designation . This signals that the Commission views dominant cloud platforms as similarly "gatekeeping" bottlenecks deserving of prophylactic regulation, and it could pave the way for further investigations into other B2B infrastructure services in the future .