EU set to name AWS and Azure DMA gatekeepers in November

The European Commission plans to name Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in November, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, it said regulators are finishing an investigation that will find both cloud services fall under the bloc’s Big Tech rules.

The decision is still a draft, and its timing could slip, Bloomberg’s sources said. TNW has not independently confirmed the report, and the Commission has not publicly set a date.

A final decision would confirm the preliminary view the Commission shared in June.

At the time, it told Amazon and Microsoft that AWS and Azure are a key gateway between businesses and their customers. They are the largest and second-largest cloud services in the EU.

Neither service meets the DMA’s usual tests for size and user numbers. Instead, the Commission said both have large, long-standing customer bases that find switching costly. It added that they keep much of the new demand for AI computing inside their own ecosystems.

Once designated, Amazon and Microsoft would have six months to bring the services into line with the DMA. Its rules stop gatekeepers from favouring their own products.

They must also work with rival services and let customers move their data, which would make it easier to switch cloud providers.

Firms that break the DMA face fines of up to 10% of their global sales, or 20% for repeat breaches. Both firms are already gatekeepers for other services, such as Amazon’s marketplace and Microsoft’s Windows.

The Commission opened the cloud investigations in November 2025. The DMA gives it about a year to finish such reviews, which fits the November date.

Both companies have pushed back. In June, AWS argued that the EU already regulates cloud through its Data Act and that extra DMA rules could deter investment in Europe.

When the investigations opened, Microsoft said Europe’s cloud sector was innovative and highly competitive.

Story by Alina Maria Stan

Alina Maria Stan builds connections that people actually feel. As co-founder and COO of Tekpon, she turns product intuition into real moment (show all) Alina Maria Stan builds connections that people actually feel. As co-founder and COO of Tekpon, she turns product intuition into real moments of discovery, shaping how teams find and adopt SaaS every day. Since 2020, she has led Tekpon’s brand voice, media strategy, and growth plays with a clear focus on human outcomes behind every metric. Before Tekpon, Alina followed curiosity across industries and countries. She was CEO of King Casino Bonus and led affiliate and brand strategy at Extremoo Media and Fable Media in Denmark, where she learned how to build partnerships that last. Early on, she sharpened her CRM and pricing instincts at K.H. ApS, always asking why customers choose what they choose. Her approach is rooted in more than a decade of international experience and two master’s degrees, one in Sustainable Consumption from the Technical University of Munich and one in Consumer Affairs Management from Aarhus University.