Hyperscalers Place Big Bets On AI As Cloud Spending Rolls On

Global spending on cloud infrastructure grew 19% YoY to $78.2 billion in 2Q24, according to Canalys, with AWS, Microsoft, and Google seeking greater market share through AI.

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The global cloud infrastructure services market remains strong, buoyed in part by enterprise interest in AI. That interest is in turn spurring the Big 3 cloud vendors to accelerate AI offerings in hopes of winning even larger portions of the global cloud market, even as CIOs seek to sharpen strategies to curb costs and maximize their return from the cloud.

In the second quarter of 2024, global spending on cloud infrastructure services grew by 19% year-over-year to surpass the $78 billion mark. While enterprise IT budgets have grown, a significant portion of spending is now going to investments related to artificial intelligence (AI). According to a new report from Canalys, the top three cloud providers — AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud — collectively grew by 24% this quarter to account for 63% of total spending.

AWS showed healthy growth compared to the previous quarter, with Q2 sales up 19%, but trailing vendors Microsoft and Google cut into Amazon’s lead with quarterly growth rates of 29% and 30%, respectively. Also worth noting is that, while a third of the global cloud market share is still held by other providers, it is shifting toward the major hyperscalers, which are reaping an ever-larger piece of the pie.

According to Canalys, the growing demand for AI is expected to create significant opportunities for sustained growth in cloud services. As businesses adopt AI technologies, they will require more advanced and scalable cloud infrastructure, which will drive continued investment and development in the cloud. But concerns are emerging regarding potential overinvestment in AI as returns appear to be taking longer than initially anticipated.[…]