Amazon, Microsoft and Google benefit as cloud spending surges - Canalys

Canalys claims the top four providers collectively grew by 40 per cent during Q3

Spending on cloud infrastructure services grew by a third in Q3 as fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to benefit the market's largest providers.

Analyst firm Canalys claims that cloud infrastructure services spending grew by 33 per cent in Q3 to $36.5bn - $2bn higher than the previous quarter and $9bn more than Q3 2019.

The industry's four largest providers - Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Alibaba - collectively grew by 40 per cent during the quarter, claims Canalys.

The world's runaway leader, Amazon Web Services (AWS), grew its business by $2.6bn in Q3 compared to the same quarter last year.

AWS controlled 32 per cent of the total cloud infrastructure services market in Q3, up from 31 per cent last quarter but down from 33 per cent in Q3 2019.

Canalys claims that, in Q3, AWS generated more revenue than the next three largest cloud service providers combined.

Microsoft controlled 19 per cent of the total market in Q3, up from 17 per cent in Q3 2019, thanks to growing its Azure business by 48 per cent year on year during the last quarter.

The analyst firm claims that Microsoft grew its number of long-term contracts during the quarter as large enterprises began to migrate mission-critical workloads onto its platform.

Google meanwhile commanded seven per cent of the overall market in Q3. Canalys says the tech giant has maintained momentum in its six target industries, particularly its enterprise business as it ramps up channel involvement and partner enablement in deals.

Lastly, Alibaba Cloud remains the leader in China and the wider APAC region and now commands six per cent of the total market.

Canalys believes that the return of stricter COVID lockdown measures across some markets will mean cloud will remain vital for businesses as they continue to work remotely.

"Increased consumption has driven cloud infrastructure services spend this year, though some larger and more complex deals were delayed due to uncertainty caused by the pandemic," said Canalys chief analyst Matthew Ball.

"But as organisations adjust to the new normal, these longer-term projects are accelerating again. Some organisations are taking a cost-driven approach by reducing capital expenditure on their own datacentres and cutting management costs from outsourcing contracts. Others are taking a transformational approach, developing new cloud-native applications and business models. But they will all have to be more measured and cost-conscious, requiring greater control and visibility of spend, while also deciding not to migrate every workload."