UK Launches Investigation into Amazon and Microsoft's Dominance of £15B Cloud Market

Ofcom refers Amazon and Microsoft's cloud dominance for investigation by UK's Competition and Markets Authority. Ofcom concerned about competition in UK's £15B cloud market.

Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure have roughly 60-70% of UK cloud market share. Top 3 of Amazon, Microsoft, Google have 81% of revenue share.

Ofcom concerned about egress fees, technical barriers, and discounts that lock in customers and make switching harder.

Probe follows adoption of power-hungry AI models like ChatGPT that rely on cloud services and data centers.

CMA welcomes referral, will examine market and potential action. Investigation to conclude by April 2025.