European Union regulators have formally notified Amazon and Microsoft that they preliminarily view Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure as gatekeeper platforms under the Digital Markets Act, marking a seismic escalation in the bloc’s campaign against Big Tech dominance. The European Commission’s decision, communicated on June 25, 2026, sets the stage for a regulatory overhaul of the cloud computing industry, potentially forcing the two hyperscalers to overhaul their business practices around customer lock-in, data portability, and the emerging battleground of artificial intelligence control.
The preliminary finding does not yet impose obligations but triggers a detailed investigation that could lead to binding remedies, fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover, and even structural separation in extreme cases. For the millions of enterprises that rely on AWS and Azure to power their digital infrastructure—including countless Windows-based workloads—the move promises to reshape years of deeply entrenched procurement habits and technical architectures.
The Digital Markets Act and Its Gatekeeper Criteria
The Digital Markets Act, which came into full effect in 2023, aims to ensure fair and contestable digital markets by imposing a set of dos and don’ts on large online platforms designated as “gatekeepers.” To qualify, a company must have a strong intermediation position, a significant impact on the EU market, and an entrenched and durable position—typically evidenced by meeting quantitative thresholds such as more than 45 million monthly active end users and an annual EU turnover of at least €7.5 billion.
Until now, the Commission has designated gatekeepers in core platform services like search engines, social networks, and operating systems. Google, Apple, Meta, and TikTok’s parent Byte Dance have all fallen under the DMA’s scope. The preliminary inclusion of cloud infrastructure services—specifically AWS and Azure—represents a radical expansion of the regulation into the foundational layer of the digital economy.
Amazon and Microsoft have consistently argued that cloud computing is a highly competitive market with many players, pointing to Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM, and a host of European providers. But the Commission’s preliminary view appears to zero in on the duopoly’s stranglehold over the European market, where AWS and Azure together command roughly two-thirds of all cloud spending, according to Synergy Research Group data from Q1 2026.
Why Cloud Infrastructure?
The Commission’s logic, outlined in a confidential statement of objections seen by windowsnews.ai, rests on the assertion that cloud infrastructure and platform services have become indispensable gateways for business users to reach customers. Unlike consumer-facing platforms, cloud services underpin enterprise operations—hosting websites, running ERP systems, and increasingly, training and deploying AI models. By controlling the underlying infrastructure, AWS and Azure can dictate terms that stifle competition and innovation.
One central concern is the vertical integration of cloud providers into adjacent software and AI markets. Both Amazon and Microsoft offer hundreds of proprietary services—from databases to machine learning tools—that are seamlessly integrated into their clouds but often difficult or costly to use elsewhere. The DMA could compel these companies to provide competitors with access to key interoperability interfaces and to refrain from self-preferencing their own services over those of rivals.
The Lock-In Problem
Enterprise IT leaders have long grumbled about cloud lock-in, but the DMA may finally force a reckoning. AWS, with its massive first-mover advantage, has cultivated an ecosystem where services like Lambda, DynamoDB, and SageMaker are deeply interdependent, making migration a technical and financial nightmare. Meanwhile, Microsoft has leveraged its dominance in productivity software and Windows Server to drive Azure adoption through hybrid licensing benefits and the retirement of on-premises Exchange and SharePoint options.
Egress fees—charges for moving data out of a cloud—have been a particular flashpoint. While AWS and Azure both introduced limited free data transfer initiatives in 2024, critics argue these measures were cosmetic. The DMA could ban egress fees outright or mandate that data be portable in a machine-readable format at no cost within tight timeframes. Such a rule would upend the economics of multi-cloud strategies and potentially unlock a wave of workload repatriation to on-premises or colocation facilities.
Interoperability mandates would be equally transformative. The Commission may require gatekeeper clouds to publish APIs and command-line interfaces that allow third-party management tools and alternative cloud services to function seamlessly. For Windows admins, that could mean native integration of Azure Arc-style management with competing platforms, or a standardized way to run Microsoft SQL Server on any cloud without punitive licensing surcharges.
AI Control as a New Battleground
Perhaps the most forward-looking aspect of the preliminary ruling is its focus on artificial intelligence. The Commission expressed worry that cloud gatekeepers are extending their dominance into the AI supply chain by tying foundational model access to their infrastructure. Microsoft’s exclusive partnership with OpenAI makes Azure the sole cloud for training and running models like GPT-5, while Amazon’s Bedrock service tightly integrates models from Anthropic and others into the AWS ecosystem.
This bundling creates a self-reinforcing cycle: companies that want the latest AI capabilities must commit to a specific cloud, further entrenching that provider’s position. The DMA could force gatekeepers to unbundle AI services from infrastructure, requiring them to offer model APIs on a standalone basis without mandating use of the underlying cloud. It could also impose fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) access to hardware accelerators like GPUs, which are currently in short supply and allocated preferentially to committed cloud customers.
For Windows and Microsoft 365 shops, the stakes are especially high. Microsoft is integrating AI copilot features throughout its software stack, from GitHub to Word. If those AI services can run only on Azure, the lock-in extends well beyond infrastructure to the entire knowledge worker toolchain. A DMA remedy could require Microsoft to allow third-party clouds to host those AI workloads, or to offer the underlying models through vendor-neutral platforms.
What This Means for Amazon and Microsoft
Both companies now face months of intense regulatory scrutiny. They have the right to respond to the preliminary findings and contest the gatekeeper designation before a final decision is issued—likely by early 2027. In a brief statement, Amazon said it “fundamentally disagrees” with the Commission’s assessment and will “demonstrate the fierce competition and constant innovation in the cloud market.” Microsoft similarly argued that “customers choose Azure because of its unmatched enterprise value, not because of any alleged lock-in,” but has pledged constructive engagement.
The financial implications are enormous. Beyond potential fines, the operational costs of complying with interoperability mandates, data portability obligations, and anti-self-preferencing rules could run into billions. More critically, the DMA threatens the business model that has made cloud the most profitable division for both companies—AWS accounts for roughly 70% of Amazon’s operating income, while Azure’s revenue growth consistently outpaces the rest of Microsoft.
Investors reacted swiftly: Amazon shares dipped 2.3% on the news, and Microsoft fell 1.8%, while independent European cloud operators like OVHcloud and Ionos saw their stock jump by more than 5%.
Implications for Enterprise IT and the Windows Ecosystem
For the IT community, a final gatekeeper designation would be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it promises to lower the barriers between clouds, making it easier to build resilient architectures that avoid over-reliance on any single provider. Windows Server admins could more readily pair Azure-based Active Directory with alternative compute platforms, while developers might mix and match cloud-native services without fear of crippling future migrations.
On the other hand, compliance requirements could introduce complexity. Interoperability standards might force Microsoft to redesign parts of its tightly integrated stack, potentially leading to initial instability or reduced performance. There’s also a risk that companies will slow their cloud adoption cycles as they wait for regulatory clarity, delaying modernization projects.
Smaller cloud providers and system integrators stand to gain significantly. If the DMA forces gatekeepers to open up their ecosystems, European firms could finally compete on a more level playing field, offering managed services that span multiple clouds with native integration. This would mirror the impact the DMA had on messaging apps, which now must interoperate with each other after WhatsApp was designated a gatekeeper.
The Road Ahead
The Commission’s decision to preliminarily designate AWS and Azure as gatekeepers is just the beginning of a long legal and technical process. Amazon and Microsoft will almost certainly challenge the finding in court, arguing that cloud services are not covered by the DMA’s core platform service list and that the market is inherently global and competitive. The European Court of Justice could take years to rule, though interim measures might force the companies to implement some remedies in the meantime.
Meanwhile, Google Cloud and other large providers will watch nervously. Google narrowly escaped a preliminary designation because its market share is roughly half that of AWS or Azure in Europe, but the DMA’s “emerging gatekeeper” provisions allow the Commission to revisit that classification as markets evolve. Oracle and IBM, with their managed cloud services, could also face scrutiny if they attempt to fill any gaps left by a regulated duopoly.
What is clear is that the era of unconstrained cloud growth is drawing to a close in Europe. The combination of the DMA, the NIS2 cybersecurity directive, and the EU AI Act creates a regulatory thicket that will require sophisticated compliance strategies. For Windows-focused enterprises, the coming months offer a strategic window to reassess cloud commitments, negotiate more flexible contracts, and demand the interoperability that the DMA seeks to guarantee. The message from Brussels is unambiguous: the cloud is no longer a digital wild west, and its biggest gatekeepers will soon have to answer to the law.