Amazon faces US antitrust scrutiny on cloud business

THE US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has broadened its scrutiny of Amazon.com Inc beyond its retail operations to include its cloud-computing business, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The US antitrust enforcers have been asking software companies about practices around Amazon’s cloud unit Amazon Web Services, the report said.

FTC and Amazon did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

In cloud computing, one of the fastest-growing areas in the technology industry, businesses rent out servers from Amazon instead of running their own data centres.

Analysts expect Amazon’s cloud unit, which is the global leader in terms of market share, to generate US$34.9 bil (RM145.7 bil) in sales in 2019, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. – Reuters

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