Stupid Europeans. Microsoft terms hurting cloud rivals, CMA says


SUZI RING AND TIM BRADSHAW · 1 Aug 2025


Microsoft’s software licensing terms are harming competition in the cloud computing market, an investigation ordered by the UK antitrust regulator has found, driving up costs for its Big Tech rivals.

The finding by an independent panel of the Competition and Markets Authority said yesterday that the UK cloud market “is not working well” and recommended the agency impose conduct requirements on Microsoft and Amazon to boost competition.

On Wednesday, Microsoft reported soaring profits, boosted by its Azure cloud computing unit, whose global revenues rose 34 per cent to a record $75bn in the year to June.

The CMA’s panel found that the cloud market was highly concentrated, with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure each commanding up to 40 per cent of UK customer spending, and Google trailing in a distant third place.

But it singled out Microsoft’s “significant market power”, driven by how it charges Amazon and Google to use its software, saying it is “adversely impacting” the competitiveness in the market.

The CMA will consider whether to open a probe into Microsoft and Amazon with a view to handing them so-called strategic market status, which would result in specific conduct requirements.

But any SMS probe would not start until 2026 as the CMA focused on live investigations into Google and Apple.

Microsoft said: “The CMA panel’s most recent publication misses the mark again, ignoring that the cloud market has never been so dynamic and competitive, with record investment and rapid, AI-driven changes.”

The company added that the CMA group’s “recommendations fail to cover Google, one of the fastest-growing cloud market participants”.

Amazon said: “The inquiry group’s final report disregards clear evidence of robust competition in the UK’s IT services industry”. Chris Lindsay, Google Cloud’s vice-president for customer engineering in Europe, the Middle East and Africa said: “Swift action . . . is essential to ensure British businesses pay a fair price and to unleash choice, innovation and economic growth in the UK.”

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