AWS and Microsoft Face Fresh UK Scrutiny Over Cloud Switching Barriers Faizan Farooque Fri, October 16, 2026 at 11:01 AM EDT MSFT -2.04% AMZN -0.59% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Amazon.com Inc. ( AMZN, Financials), the owner of Amazon Web Services, is under further regulatory scrutiny in the U.K. with Microsoft over how easy it is for consumers to switch between cloud providers.Britain's Competition and Markets Authority stated on Friday that both businesses might do more to decrease obstacles to switching providers and utilizing different cloud services.It may sound complex, but it gets right down to one of the greatest features of the cloud business model: client stickiness.Large corporations typically design apps on particular cloud platforms. The harder or more costly it is to migrate your workloads elsewhere, the more price power the provider may have.The agency wants to give consumers more leeway to switch between providers or to split workloads across multiple clouds.That sets up a possible tradeoff for AWS and Microsoft.This might lead to a more competitive market, since customers are less tied to one environment and can move more easily.While the CMA has not started a full strategic market status inquiry, it noted the possibility remained under evaluation.Next to monitor is if the regulator proceeds from pressure to official action, which might compel adjustments to cloud pricing, contracts or interoperability.
