AWS’ Market Share Crept Up a Full Percentage Point in Q2

AWS’ market share grew by more than a full percentage point during the second quarter, reaching nearly 34%.

That finding comes from Synergy Research Group. The firm analyzed enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services for the three months ending June 30. During that evaluation, Synergy uncovered a higher Amazon Web Services lead.

That AWS’ market share continues to surpass its rivals is not surprising. For years, the company has boasted the top spot compared to Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. However, AWS’ dominance is not necessarily assured. IDC recently found that Azure had exceeded AWS’ market share, and so did vendor Flexera. Research is not bound to agree across the various outlets and, to that point, Synergy did not spot a change in AWS’ market share for the recently ended second quarter.

Perhaps of greater interest is the new information Synergy did come across. For one, Google Cloud, long the third-largest public cloud provider, captured more market share in the second quarter of 2022. Synergy called the increase “a meaningful uptick.” Overall, AWS, Azure and Google held a combined 65% share of the global public cloud computing market between April and June, Synergy said. That marked an increase from 61% a year ago.

Turbulence in Currency Markets Affected Cloud Numbers

In terms of dollars, that 65% hold translated into almost $55 billion that enterprises spent on cloud infrastructure services, according to Synergy. That number represents 29% growth compared to 2021. And the figure stands despite turbulence in currency markets, Synergy analysts said.

Had exchange rates remained constant over the last year, the growth rate would have hovered around six percentage points higher, the firm said.

Synergy Research Group’s John Dinsdale

“As the cloud market continues to surge, the biggest story in Q2 was all about macroeconomics rather than actual cloud usage,” said John Dinsdale, a chief analyst at Synergy Research Group. “When country market numbers are aggregated in U.S. dollars, the yearly growth rate dropped by over six percentage points due to foreign exchange movements, with over half of that reduction being accounted for in Q2 alone.”

That indicates that despite their strengths, global cloud providers “are certainly not immune from the impact of ongoing shifts in exchange rates,” Dinsdale added.

However, he noted, “the fact remains that the underlying growth in cloud usage continues to grow at truly impressive rates. This has caused a clear acceleration in both the launch of new hyperscale data centers and the level of spending on data center hardware and software. Our forecasts show continued strong growth in all key cloud market metrics.”

Cloud Infrastructure, Platform as a Service Grow — A Lot

All told, Synergy estimates that, when accounting for infrastructure, platforms and hosted private cloud services, revenue among the major cloud providers amounted to $54.7 billion. Trailing 12-month revenue reached $205 billion, analysts said. Outlay on public infrastructure and platform services grew by 31%.

The other cloud providers – the names of which Synergy did not specify – saw their revenue rise by more than 150% since the beginning of 2018. However, their collective market share has plunged, Synergy said, from 49% to 35%. The growth rates among these companies (presumably the likes of Alibaba and Tencent) remain far below the market leaders, analysts said.

In spite of that, demand for cloud computing is experiencing strong growth in all world regions, Synergy found. That comes as little shock. Enterprises around the globe continue to pursue digital transformation initiatives, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid economic uncertainty.