UK cloud computing market faces formal inquiry amid Microsoft and Amazon concerns

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The UK's communications regulator has referred the cloud computing market to the competition watchdog for a formal investigation after a study raised concerns about industry leaders Amazon and Microsoft.

Article originally published by The Guardian. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for its content or accuracy and may not share the author's views. News and research are not personal recommendations to deal. All investments can fall in value so you could get back less than you invest.

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05 Oct 2023

Ofcom has asked the Competition and Markets Authority to launch an inquiry, saying it is “particularly concerned about the position of the market leaders Amazon and Microsoft”.

Cloud computing, or the delivery of IT services such as data storage and computing power over the internet with a pay-as-you-go pricing structure, is widely used by businesses and has emerged as a major piece of infrastructure in the development of the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Fergal Farragher, the Ofcom director who oversaw the watchdog’s study into the cloud market, said companies had expressed concerns about the difficulty of switching or mixing and matching cloud providers. He said industries ranging from TV production to telecoms networks and AI “rely on remote computer power that goes unseen”.

“Some UK businesses have told us