BRUSSELS — The European Commission on Thursday informed Amazon and Microsoft of its preliminary view that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act, the EU’s executive arm said.
The preliminary designation, which applies to the two largest cloud computing providers in Europe, would extend the DMA’s obligations to a market that the commission said is showing signs of concentration that could stifle competition.
The commission said it based its preliminary view on AWS and Azure’s “revenue, operational capacity and investments,” which it said “seem to have significantly outpaced those of competitors.”
EU officials designated Amazon, Microsoft and other large U.S. tech companies as gatekeepers years ago for some services, including online marketplaces and operating systems. The Thursday announcement marks the first time the commission has sought to extend the designation to cloud infrastructure services.
If the designation is finalized, AWS and Azure would face a set of obligations under the DMA, including prohibitions on unfair bundling practices and requirements to ensure interoperability with competing services. The companies would have six months to ensure full compliance.
A Microsoft spokesperson said the company “continue[s] to engage constructively with the commission” and described the European cloud sector as “innovative, highly competitive and an accelerator for growth across the economy.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. However, earlier this month the company argued that applying the DMA to cloud services risked “undermining competitiveness, deterring investment, and weighing on innovation,” according to the commission.
The commission said its view is preliminary, meaning Amazon and Microsoft now have the right to review the documents the commission has at its disposal and reply in writing before EU officials decide whether to proceed with the formal designation.
The move is the latest in a series of EU regulatory actions targeting large U.S. technology companies. As MSI previously reported, the EU earlier this year opened specification proceedings under the DMA to require Google to share AI-related data with rivals, and in April accused Meta of failing to keep children under 13 off Facebook and Instagram under the Digital Services Act.
The Thursday announcement on cloud services comes weeks after the European Commission proposed a wide-ranging technology sovereignty package aimed at reducing the EU’s dependence on non-European technology companies. The EU relies on non-EU countries for more than 80% of its technology and 70% of its cloud computing, according to the commission.