The short answer
The European Commission is set to designate AWS and Microsoft Azure as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act, with a final decision reported for November 2026 and six months to comply after that. For companies running on either cloud, the practical effect is more leverage to switch, combine providers and get their data out, probably from mid-2027.
Nothing changes in your account tomorrow. But if your cloud and DevOps setup depends on one hyperscaler, the next twelve months are a good window to make your architecture and contracts portable, so you can actually use the new rights when they arrive rather than read about them.
What is the EU planning for AWS and Azure?
The Commission opened three market investigations into cloud computing on 18 November 2025. Two of them asked whether Amazon's and Microsoft's cloud services should be designated as gatekeepers. The third looks at whether the DMA's existing obligations are enough to deal with problems in the cloud market as a whole.
On 25 June 2026 the Commission said its preliminary answer to the first two questions was yes. Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera said the services should fall under the DMA, with final decisions to follow once Amazon and Microsoft had responded. According to Bloomberg's 2 October report, the draft decision now points to designation in November. Both companies already have other services under the DMA: Amazon for its marketplace and Microsoft for Windows.
Why are clouds covered when they miss the thresholds?
Most DMA designations follow numbers: EU revenue, market value and counts of business and end users. Cloud infrastructure does not fit those tests well, because a single business customer can run thousands of products and services on one account. The Commission said neither AWS nor Azure meets the quantitative thresholds.
Instead, it relied on the law's qualitative route. The Commission found that both services are an important gateway between businesses and their customers in the EU, with large, long-standing customer bases for whom switching is costly. It also said the two clouds keep much of the new demand for AI computing inside their own ecosystems. That last point matters for anyone building AI products: model hosting, GPUs and managed AI services are part of the lock-in the Commission is looking at.
Which rules could apply, and when?
Once a final designation is adopted, Amazon and Microsoft have six months to bring the services into line. If the decision arrives in November as reported, that points to roughly May 2027. Core DMA duties include not favouring the gatekeeper's own products, allowing interoperability with rival services and enabling data portability. Breaches can be fined up to 10% of global annual turnover, rising to 20% for repeat infringements.
The exact obligations for cloud are not public yet. The Commission's parallel investigation lists the practices it is examining: obstacles to interoperability between cloud services, limited or conditional access for business users to their data, tying and bundling, and imbalanced contract terms. Those are a reasonable guide to where the rules will land.
The DMA comes on top of the EU Data Act. Its cloud-switching chapter has applied since 12 September 2025, and from 12 January 2027 providers may no longer charge customers for switching, including data egress for the move. AWS told Bloomberg that the Data Act already regulates cloud and that more rules could deter investment in Europe. Microsoft said when the investigations opened that Europe's cloud sector is innovative and highly competitive.
What it means for US & EU software teams
Switching gets cheaper on paper, not automatically in practice. Regulation can remove egress fees and contractual barriers. It cannot rewrite an application built around one provider's queues, identity system, serverless runtime and managed database. The legal right to leave is only useful if the code and data can actually move. Teams that keep infrastructure in tools such as Terraform and use open interfaces where it matters will be able to use the new rules; teams that do not will mostly see them in their procurement leverage.
Multi-cloud and best-of-breed become easier to justify. Interoperability duties and a ban on self-preferencing are meant to make it practical to mix providers, for example running analytics or AI inference with a specialist vendor while keeping core workloads on AWS or Azure. Expect product and architecture decisions that were blocked by integration cost or bundled pricing to look different by 2027.
US companies with EU customers are affected too. The DMA applies to services offered in the EU, and contract terms are usually global. If AWS or Azure change bundling, data access or switching terms for EU customers, those changes often reach US accounts as well. Even where they do not, EU customers will ask their software vendors how portable their own platforms are.
Renewal timing matters. Many enterprises sign multi-year committed-spend agreements with their cloud provider. If yours renews before mid-2027, avoid locking in terms that the DMA and Data Act may soon make more favourable. Shorter commitments, exit clauses and data export obligations written into the contract cost little to ask for now.
What to do before the rules apply
- Map proprietary dependencies. List every managed service you use on AWS or Azure and mark which ones have an open or portable equivalent and which would need a rewrite.
- Estimate your real switching cost. Separate egress fees, which the Data Act removes for switching, from engineering effort, which no regulation removes.
- Keep infrastructure as code. Make sure environments can be rebuilt from code rather than from console clicks, and that data can be exported in documented formats.
- Review contract renewals. Check committed-spend agreements and enterprise terms that renew before mid-2027, and negotiate exit and data export terms now.
- Write an exit plan. EU financial firms already need one under DORA; for everyone else it is still the clearest way to find out what is actually locked in.
- Watch for the November decision. The final designation and any cloud-specific obligations will show what changes first.
This is not legal advice, and the final decision may still change in scope or timing. The direction is clear, though: Brussels intends to treat the two largest clouds as infrastructure that customers must be able to leave, and the teams that prepare their architecture now will gain the most from it.
Frequently asked questions
What did the EU decide about AWS and Azure?
On 25 June 2026 the European Commission said its preliminary view is that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act. On 2 October 2026 Bloomberg reported that a draft decision would make the designation final in November, although the timing could slip.
Why are AWS and Azure covered if they miss the DMA thresholds?
The DMA usually designates services by revenue and user numbers. The Commission said neither cloud service meets those quantitative tests, but it found that both act as an important gateway between businesses and their customers in the EU. This would be the first designation based on the qualitative criteria alone.
When would the new rules apply to AWS and Azure?
Once a final designation is adopted, gatekeepers get six months to comply. If the decision lands in November 2026, the obligations would bite around May 2027. Fines for breaches can reach 10% of global annual turnover, and 20% for repeat infringements.
What could change for cloud customers?
DMA rules ban gatekeepers from favouring their own services and require interoperability and data portability. The Commission's separate cloud market investigation is looking at obstacles to interoperability, limited access to data for business users, tying and bundling of services, and imbalanced contract terms. The exact cloud obligations are not yet public.
Should teams wait for the final decision before acting?
No. The EU Data Act already requires cloud providers to support switching, and switching charges must be removed from 12 January 2027. Teams can document their dependencies, keep infrastructure in portable code and add exit terms to contracts now, so they can use the new rights as soon as they apply.
Sources
Bloomberg — Microsoft, Amazon cloud arms set to face deeper scrutiny under EU's tech rules, 2 October 2026
European Commission — Commission reaches preliminary position that Amazon's and Microsoft's market leading cloud services should be designated under the DMA, 25 June 2026
European Commission — Commission launches market investigations on cloud computing services under the Digital Markets Act, 18 November 2025