A recent study by Finbold has revealed that in the first quarter of 2024, tech titans Amazon and Microsoft controlled a whopping 56% of the global cloud infrastructure market. This dominance is further highlighted by Microsoft Azure’s steady climb, stealing market share from Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Over the past three years, Azure’s share jumped from 21% to 25%, while AWS dipped slightly from 33% to 31%. Azure’s rise is likely linked to Microsoft’s focus on cutting-edge technologies like AI and machine learning, evident in their early investment in OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT.
This growth is fueled by the digital revolution and booming AI field, which is fueling impressive growth in cloud infrastructure and its leading companies.
The industry has also witnessed consolidation among the top players as Alibaba and IBM both saw their market share shrink in the last three years. Alibaba went from 6% in late 2021 to 4% in early 2024, and IBM dipped from 4% to 2%. Other major players like Salesforce, Tencent and Oracle haven’t gained significant ground either.
However, there’s a crucial point to consider, as Andreja Stojanovic, the study co-author, points out: “Losing market share doesn’t necessarily translate to a decline in business. The entire cloud infrastructure market’s revenue has soared from just over $50 billion in Q4 2021 to over $76 billion in Q1 2024.”
Interestingly, excluding Microsoft Azure, only Alphabet’s Google Cloud managed to increase its market share between Q4 2021 and Q1 2024, and even then by just 1%.