The cloud market continues surging, with enterprises spending more and more money on cloud infrastructure services each year. After four straight quarters of revenue growth, the entire sector grossed a record $84 billion in Q3, 23% more than in the same period last year. However, the five-year growth figures are even more impressive.
According to data presented by AltIndex.com, the quarterly cloud infrastructure services revenue has skyrocketed by an impressive 250% in the past five years.
Quarterly Revenue More than Tripled Since 2019
After seeing growth rates soften through last year, 2024 brought new momentum to the cloud market. With generative AI as the major driver behind the market acceleration, quarterly revenue increased by roughly 14% in nine months, rising from $73.7 billion in Q4 2023 to an all-time high of $84 billion in Q3 2024.
While the 14% growth represents a slowdown compared to figures reported throughout 2020, 2021, and 2022, the global spending on cloud services is still far from where it was five years ago, and the Synergy Research Group data proves it.
Back in Q3 2019, cloud infrastructure service providers worldwide grossed around $24 billion, a figure that is only one-third of their revenue today. Two years later, in Q3 2021, that $24 billion turned into $46 billion and continued rising. With thousands of companies turning to cloud solutions even in the post-pandemic years, the quarterly cloud spending hit over $73 billion by the end of 2023. Since then, this figure has increased by another $11 billion, rising by an average of 4% quarter-over-quarter, despite economic, currency and political headwinds.
Regarding market positioning, Amazon maintains a strong lead in cloud space, although its market share has dropped year-over-year. In Q3, Amazon Web Services (AWS) controlled 31% of the market, down from 33% in the same quarter last year. Microsoft Azure ranked second with a 20% market share, one percent less than in the same period a year ago. On the other hand, Google Cloud, the third-largest player in the market, saw its market share increase from 11% to 13% in this period. Collectively, the three vendors accounted for 64% of total spending in the year’s third quarter.
Public Cloud Industry to Hit a $1.5 Trillion Value by 2028
With global spending on cloud services reaching all-time highs, the entire market is expected to hit a new record value in the following years, much higher than thought before. According to a Statista Market Insights survey, the public cloud market is expected to hit a $1.5 trillion value by 2028, $500 billion more than in the earlier forecast, growing by an average of 20% per year.
The market’s largest segment, software as a service (SaaS), is expected to skyrocket by 141% and hit a $818 billion value by 2028. The platform as a service (PaaS) market follows with just as impressive 125% growth and $387 billion in revenue in the next four years. Statistics show Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) will skyrocket by 151% and hit $462 billion in revenue in this period, while the business process as a service (BPaaS) segment follows with a 73% growth and $128.8 billion in revenue in the next four years.
