India's largest platform and marketplace for GCCs & AI

Sign in

India's largest platform and marketplace for GCCs & AI
Become a Thought Leader
Become a 3AI Member

Sign in

3AI Digital Library

< Go Back

Cloud Infrastructure market: Amazon, Microsoft, and Google continue to thrive

3AI February 17, 2021

Even in the middle of a pandemic, companies including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google continue to thrive thanks to their control over the cloud infrastructure market.

When we talk about regulating big tech, the discussion usually centers on online privacy and location tracking, but we never seem to discuss the control these companies have over a vast majority of the internet. We use free apps and services every day but fail to mention where all that data is stored—in the cloud. If we want big tech to have less control over our daily lives, maybe we should start worrying about the stranglehold these few companies have over our data.

According to data collected by the Synergy Research Group, four companies own 67% of the world’s $130 billion cloud market. Leading the pack by a large margin is Amazon Web Services, which enjoys a whopping 32% market share against the competition. This is followed by the 20% share enjoyed by Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure. So these two companies alone make up 52% of the market.

Behind the two dominant companies, Google Cloud at 9% and Alibaba Cloud at 6% round out the top four, which own over half of the overall market. After that, IBM Cloud, Salesforce, Tencent Cloud, and Oracle Cloud make up 12% of the market combined.

Between the infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service schemes employers subscribe to and the hosted private cloud services we use every day, companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Alibaba have ultimate control over our data. Google may not be viewing everything you upload to Google Drive, for instance, but these companies do gain access to our personal data through the free services you use.

In the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, cloud infrastructure services brought in a total of $37 billion as the world solidified its work from home setup. This was a $4 billion jump from the previous quarter, proving that these companies continue to thrive off our data while many other businesses suffer.

Picture from freepik.com

    3AI Trending Articles

  • Major Cybersecurity Incidents of 2020

    From ransomware schemes to supply chain attacks, this year melded classic hacks with extraordinary circumstances. WHAT A WAY to kick off a new decade. 2020 showcased all of the digital risks and cybersecurity woes you’ve come to expect in the modern era, but this year was unique in the ways Covid-19 radically and tragically transformed life around the […]

  • IIT Kanpur introduces Master’s programs in Cybersecurity

    IIT Kanpur has introduced three new cybersecurity postgraduate programs with intent to to address the need of cybersecurity personnel by ensuring training of dedicated and highly skilled manpower.   With a view to meet the shortfall in trained and skilled cybersecurity personnel in the country, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur has decided to introduce […]

  • Salesforce embraces the public cloud with Hyperforce

    Salesforce is letting CIOs choose where they run its software, easing compliance with data protection and data sovereignty laws. Salesforce.com President and COO Bret Taylor believes the SaaS vendor has made “probably the most significant technological shift” since its CRM platform first launched 21 years ago. But Taylor wasn’t talking about the company’s agreement to acquire […]

  • Transforming Product Experience: How Generative AI is changing the game for Microsoft, Oracle, and AWS

    Featured Article: Author: Abhishek Tandon, Director, Customer Success for Fosfor, LTIMindtree Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the way we interact with technology, and one of its most intriguing applications is conversational AI. Chatbots and virtual assistants have become increasingly popular, enabling businesses to provide personalized and efficient customer experiences. Companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Amazon […]