Amazon Web Services (AWS) maintained its lead in the cloud infrastructure services market, with a 31% global market share in Q1 2024, down slightly from 32% a year earlier.

However, AWS saw a rebound in its cloud business, with sales growing 17% year-over-year to $25 billion, and operating income increasing 84% to $9.4 billion.

Microsoft’s Azure platform continued to gain ground, growing its market share to an all-time high of 25% in Q1 2024.

Microsoft’s capital expenditures, which include investments in cloud and AI infrastructure, surged 79% to a record $14 billion in the quarter.

Google Cloud held 11% of the global cloud infrastructure services market in Q1 2024.
Google’s parent company Alphabet reported a 90% increase in capital expenditures to $12 billion, driven largely by investments in technical infrastructure and AI.

Overall, the “Big Three” cloud providers – AWS, Microsoft, and Google – now account for two-thirds of the rapidly growing $300 billion global cloud infrastructure services market, which grew 21% year-over-year in Q1 2024.

The cloud leaders are making significant investments in data centers, specialized chips, and other infrastructure to support the growing demand for cloud and AI services.

Other cloud providers that are fast growing and compete with the Big Three include:

Oracle Cloud

Oracle’s cloud business has been one of the fastest-growing, with 43% year-over-year growth in Q4 2023.
As a “legacy” software company, Oracle has been able to leverage its existing customer base and expertise to grow its cloud offerings.

SAP Cloud

Similar to Oracle, SAP has also been a fast-growing cloud provider, with 33% year-over-year growth in Q4 2023.
SAP has focused on providing cloud-based enterprise software and services to its large customer base.

Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud is the largest cloud service provider in Asia and has been rapidly expanding globally, now accounting for around 5% of the global cloud services market. Alibaba Cloud benefits from the large customer base of its parent company Alibaba.

IBM Cloud

IBM Cloud, while not growing as quickly as some others, still holds around 4% of the global cloud services market.
IBM has focused on providing hybrid and multi-cloud solutions to enterprises.

DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is a fast-growing cloud provider focused on serving small and medium-sized businesses as well as developers. It is the third-largest hosting company worldwide.

While AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud remain the dominant players, there are several other fast-growing cloud providers like Oracle, SAP, Alibaba, IBM, and DigitalOcean that are competing and gaining market share, especially in specific regions or customer segments.

Solganick & Co.

Investment bank Solganick & Co. covers the cloud partner and computing sector and advises on fast-growing and established software and technology services companies contemplating mergers and acquisitions. For more information or to inquire about an M&A opportunity, please contact us at [email protected]

Sources:

• https://www.statista.com/chart/18819/worldwide-market-share-of-leading-cloud-infrastructure-service-providers/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/technology/amazon-first-quarter-revenue.html
• https://www.geekwire.com/2024/capex-and-the-cloud-microsoft-google-and-other-tech-giants-are-betting-big-on-ai-demand/
• https://www.cloudzero.com/blog/cloud-service-providers/
• https://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-biggest-cloud-providers-market-163802871.html