The two consecutive hyperscaler failures have reignited debate over cloud concentration and the systemic risks it poses to critical digital infrastructure.
Global disruption highlights cascading risks
The Azure outage, which began around 16:00 UTC on October 29, stemmed from a configuration fault in Azure Front Door, Microsoft’s global content delivery and application acceleration platform. The issue rippled through dependent services, impacting Microsoft 365, Xbox Live, and third-party clients worldwide, including telecoms networks, airline check-in systems, and public sector platforms.
While Microsoft moved swiftly to roll back the faulty configuration and restore performance, the scale and breadth of disruption underscored the deep interdependencies in the cloud ecosystem and the mounting concern over resilience within Europe’s digital economy.
“Resilience must come from choice, not dependence”
Nicky Stewart, senior advisor to the Open Cloud Coalition said the events show that Europe’s reliance on two dominant US providers has become a systemic risk.
“Today’s major Microsoft Azure outage, coming just days after the widespread AWS disruption, highlights the systemic risk of Europe’s dependence on the two dominant cloud providers. Successive outages on this scale show how a single technical fault can ripple through essential services, public infrastructure, and the wider economy,” Stewart said.
“The pattern of repeated disruption underlines the urgent need for diversification, and the CMA must move at pace to implement remedies that foster a more open, competitive, and interoperable cloud market, one where resilience comes from choice, not dependence on the two dominant providers.”
Stewart’s comments refer to the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s ongoing investigation into the dominance of AWS and Microsoft Azure in the UK’s cloud infrastructure market. The probe, launched in 2023, is expected to deliver remedies next year to address interoperability barriers and market concentration.
UK cloud leaders question digital sovereignty
Mark Boost, CEO of UK-based cloud provider Civo, echoed those concerns, warning that over-reliance on US hyperscalers leaves critical national infrastructure exposed.
“Two of the world’s biggest cloud providers have suffered major outages in the space of a week. It’s a wake-up call for governments and enterprises alike — why are so many critical UK institutions, from HMRC to major banks and airports, reliant on infrastructure hosted thousands of miles away?” Boost said.
“When incidents like this happen, digital sovereignty means having control, and right now, too much of ours is outsourced. The concentration of cloud power among a handful of US hyperscalers creates fragility at the heart of our economy. A single configuration error outside our borders shouldn’t be able to ground flights at Heathrow or disrupt parliamentary systems in Scotland.”
“The past week has made one thing clear: resilience cannot come from dependency. We need to invest in a diversified, domestically governed cloud strategy and ensure critical applications are distributed across more than just the top three providers. Policymakers must rethink procurement, fund sovereign alternatives, and make resilience a baseline requirement, not an afterthought.”
A regulatory inflection point
The Azure and AWS incidents have reignited calls for European regulators to accelerate cloud market reforms. Industry observers say this latest disruption could strengthen the CMA’s case for mandatory interoperability, fairer egress pricing, and data portability, reforms seen as essential to reducing vendor lock-in and enabling competition.
As the UK and EU push ahead with digital sovereignty agendas, the debate is increasingly shifting from cost efficiency to resilience and strategic autonomy. Analysts note that while no cloud provider can guarantee zero downtime, diversification across providers and geographies is key to mitigating systemic failures.
The week that shook the cloud
With two global outages in less than seven days, enterprise IT leaders and policymakers are facing a stark reality: hyperscale dominance delivers scale and performance, but at the cost of single-point fragility.
For many, this week marks a turning point in the conversation about cloud strategy, sovereignty, and the future of Europe’s digital backbone.
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