AWS, Microsoft, Google Fight For $90B Q4 2024 Cloud Market Share
Here’s new global cloud market share figures for the top five leaders for Q4 2024—including AWS, Alibaba, IBM, Google Cloud and Microsoft—as the worldwide market topped $90 billion during the quarter.
AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud — all combined — accounted for approximately 68 percent share of the global cloud market as the three cloud titans continue to battle for leadership with AI innovation being used as the tip of the spear in today’s cloud market.
“Amazon maintains a strong lead in the market though Microsoft and Google once again had a higher percentage of growth,” John Dinsdale, a chief analyst at Synergy Research Group, told CRN in an email.
“Our assessment is that since ChatGPT was launched, GenAI has been responsible for at least half of the increase in cloud service revenues. That has come from either newly launched GenAI/GPU services or from AI-driven improvements to existing cloud services,” Dinsdale said.
[Related: AWS Vs. Microsoft Vs. Google Cloud Earnings Q4 2024 Face-Off]
Worldwide enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services reached $90.6 billion in Q4 2024, up 22 percent or $17 billion year over year, according to new cloud market data from Synergy Research Group
CRN breaks down Synergy’s cloud infrastructure services market share data for fourth quarter 2024 as well as quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year comparisons.
2024 Cloud Market Hits $330 Billion Thanks To ChatGPT And AI Innovation
Before jumping into AWS, Alibaba, IBM, Google Cloud and Microsoft’s cloud market share, let’s take a look at overall market figures for full-year 2024.
For the entire 2024, the cloud services market reached $330.4 billion. This represents an increase of roughly $60 billion in total annual sales compared to 2023 and an increase of $102 billion from 2022.
“The 2024 annual growth rate came in a full four percentage points higher than the 2023 growth rate, which is a testament both to the impact of GenAI and the strength of the underlying cloud market,” said Dinsdale. “The technology might be expensive, but it is creating new services that are bringing in tens-of-billions of dollars for the cloud providers.”
Synergy’s data for cloud infrastructure service revenues include Infrastructure as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform as-a-Service (PaaS) and hosted private cloud services.
Here are the market share numbers for the five biggest cloud companies in the world as of Q4 2024.
No. 5: Oracle
Q4 2024 Market Share: 3 Percent
Q3 2024 Market Share: 3 Percent
Q4 2023 Market Share: 2 Percent
Oracle ranks No. 5 in terms of global cloud infrastructure services market share by winning 3 percent share, up 1 point year over year compared to 2 percent share in Q4 2023.
The Austin, Texas-based cloud company has achieved between 2 percent to 3 percent global market share each quarter over the past several years.
For calendar year Q4, Oracle generated $14.1 billion in revenue, up 9 percent year over year, with cloud services and cloud licensing support making up the majority of Oracle total sales and revenue growth.
No. 4: Alibaba
Q4 2024 Market Share: 4 Percent
Q3 2024 Market Share: 4 Percent
Q4 2023 Market Share: 4 Percent
Alibaba has consistently ranked in fourth place quarter after quarter for the past several years with Q4 2024 being no different.
China’s largest and most dominant cloud company achieved 4 percent market share during the fourth quarter of 2024. Alibaba’s cloud share has hovered around 4 percent quarter after quarter since 2023. However, the company was achieving a higher market share prior to 2023. For example, Alibaba won 6 global percent market share in Q4 2021.
Alibaba has yet to report its Q4 2024 financial earnings results. For Q3 2024, Alibaba’s cloud sales increased 7 percent year over year to $4.2 billion.
No. 3: Google Cloud
Q4 2024 Market Share: 12 Percent
Q3 2024 Market Share: 13 Percent
Q4 2023 Market Share: 11 Percent
Google Cloud ranks in third place with 12 percent global cloud market share in fourth quarter 2024.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud giant gained 1 point share year over year compared to its 11 percent share in Q4 2023. Google’s cloud business has been slowing gaining global market share over the past few years. For example, Google Cloud’s market share was at 10 percent share in Q4 2021.
Google Cloud generated $12 billion in revenue during Q4 2024, representing a 30 percent year over year sales increase. The company is now at a record $48 billion annual run rate.
No. 2: Microsoft
Q4 2024 Market Share: 21 Percent
Q3 2024 Market Share: 20 Percent
Q4 2023 Market Share: 24 Percent
The world’s largest software company and second biggest cloud provider won 21 percent market share of the global cloud infrastructure services market in Q4 2024.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company has been ranked No. 2 in terms of cloud market share for nearly a decade. Microsoft has consistently increased its cloud customer base and total cloud revenue quarter after quarter.
Azure sales are reported inside Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud group that also includes the company’s server products and other non-Azure cloud services.
For Q4 2024, Microsoft Intelligent Cloud business generated $25.5 billion in total sales, up 19 percent year over year. This represents a $102 billion annual run rate. Operating income for Microsoft Intelligent Cloud group was $10.8 billion, up 14 percent year over year.
(It is key to note that starting in 2024, Synergy changed the way that Microsoft Azure revenues were categorized with some Azure revenue restated as Software as-a-Service (SaaS) rather than IaaS or PaaS. This reduced Microsoft’s market share for cloud infrastructure services compared to previous years but increased its share of the SaaS market.)
No. 1: Amazon Web Services
Q4 2024 Market Share: 30 Percent
Q3 2024 Market Share: 31 Percent
Q4 2023 Market Share: 31 Percent
The longtime dominant cloud market leader continued its cloud market share winning streak in fourth quarter 2024 with AWS winning 30 percent share.
The Seattle-based cloud behemoth was pioneer cloud computing in the late 2000s. AWS has been at the top of the cloud market share mountain since the cloud industry was formed. However, AWS’ cloud market share has been trending downwards over the past few years.
For example, AWS’ 30 percent share in Q4 2024 is down 1 point year over year compared to 31 percent share in Q4 2023. Compared to AWS’ 33 percent share captured in Q4 2022, the company’s share has dropped 3 percentage points.
Looking at the company’s Q4 2024 earnings results, AWS generated $28.8 billion in revenue, up 19 percent year over year. AWS annual run rate is now over $115 billion. Operating income for AWS during Q4 2024 was $10.6 billion, an increase of 48 percent year over year.
Other Top 20 Market Share Leaders In Q4 2024
Salesforce Market Share: 2 Percent
IBM Market Share: 2 Percent
Tencent Market Share: 2 Percent
Huawei Market Share: 2 Percent
U.S.-based tech giants IBM and Salesforce alongside Chinese-based companies Huawei and Tencent, each generated approximately 2 percent global market share in Q4 2024. All four companies generated the same market share percentage in third-quarter 2024.
The other vendors who had a global cloud market share of 1 percent for Q4 2024 were Akamai, Baidu, China Telecom, China Unicom, CoreWeave, Databricks, Fujitsu, NTT, Snowflake, SAP and VMware.
One notable new vendor to break into the top 20 ranking cloud providers was CoreWeave due to its AI and GPU services.
