Bloomberg: 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. 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, the sources said. The report has not been independently confirmed, and the Commission has not publicly set a date.

What designation would change

Once designated, Amazon and Microsoft would have six months to bring AWS and Azure into line with the DMA. The rules bar gatekeepers from favoring their own products, require them to work with rival services and let customers move their data, which would make switching cloud providers easier. Breaches can draw fines of up to 10% of a company's global sales, or 20% for repeat offenses. Both firms are already gatekeepers for other services, including Amazon's marketplace and Microsoft's Windows.

Why the Commission is acting

Neither AWS nor Azure meets the DMA's usual tests for size and user numbers. In a preliminary view shared in June, the Commission said the two services are a key gateway between businesses and their customers and are the largest and second-largest cloud services in the EU. It pointed to large, long-standing customer bases that find switching costly, and said the companies keep much of the new demand for AI computing inside their own ecosystems.

Pushback and next steps

Both companies have pushed back. In June, AWS argued that the EU already regulates cloud through the Data Act and that extra DMA rules could deter investment in Europe. Microsoft said Europe's cloud sector was innovative and highly competitive when the investigations opened. The Commission opened the cloud investigations in November 2025, and the DMA gives it about a year to finish such reviews, which fits the November date. A final decision would confirm the June preliminary view.