Amazon has won a contract with the UK’s spy agencies, which will see the tech multinational host top secret material on its cloud computing platform.

The move, first reported by the Financial Times, aims to boost the use of data analytics and artificial intelligence for espionage.

Top spy agencies GCHQ, M15, and M16 all struck a deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing arm.

The news comes as the EU drafts rules to crack down on cloud computing providers for possible anti-competitive practices, which was unearthed in a new study on Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, the procurement of a high-security cloud system has been advocated by GCHQ. It will also be used by M15, M16, and other government departments during collective operations, including the Ministry of Defence.

Sources told the publication that the deal was signed this year, with industry experts estimating the contract to be worth between £500 million and £1 billion across the next ten years.

It’s predicted that the contract will spark backlash because a significant amount of the UK’s classified data will be stored by just one US technology giant.

National Technology News has reached out to Amazon for comment.

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