05:39 AM EST, 11/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with Microsoft's ( MSFT ) response in the last paragraph.)

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Microsoft's ( MSFT ) cloud services are the target of three European Commission investigations over the possibility that they are violating antitrust rules, the regulator said Tuesday.

Two of the investigations will assess whether Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure should be designated as cloud services "gatekeepers" under the Digital Markets Act, a status that would subject them to greater scrutiny and controls to bolster competition in the sector.

A third investigation will assess if the law can adequately bolster competitiveness and fairness in the EU cloud computing sector, the regulator said.

The European Commission said it aims to complete the two sets of investigations within 12 and 18 months, respectively.

The investigations were prompted by analyses that showed that the two cloud services "occupy very strong positions" that would entail more stringent requirements to bolster competition, the regulator said.

"We're confident that when the European Commission considers the facts, it will recognize what we all see," a spokesperson for AWS said in a statement e-mailed to MT Newswires.

"The cloud computing sector is extremely dynamic, with companies enjoying lots of choice, unprecedented innovation opportunity, and low costs, and that designating cloud providers as gatekeepers isn't worth the risks of stifling invention or raising costs for European companies," the spokesperson said.

"We stand ready to contribute to the European Commission's market enquiry," a Microsoft ( MSFT ) spokesperson said in a statement e-mailed to MT Newswires.