2Q20 spending on cloud services exceeds $30 billion: Synergy Research

Aug. 4, 2020
Public IaaS and PaaS services composed the bulk of the market, growing 34% in Q2.
Source: Synergy Research Group
Cloud services revenues have shown regular, stair-step growth over the past few years.
Cloud services revenues have shown regular, stair-step growth over the past few years.

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t slowed spending on cloud services, according to new data from Synergy Research Group. The market research firm says that cloud services revenues exceeded $30 billion in the second quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of $7.5 billion.

The quarter’s nearly $30.5 billion total encompasses sales of cloud infrastructure services, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and hosted private cloud services. Public IaaS and PaaS services composed the bulk of the market, growing 34% in Q2. The space has achieved a trailing 12-month revenue total of $111 billion, with revenues showing steady increase. For example, the quarterly $7.5 year-over-year expansion in 2Q20 followed a $6.5 billion jump in 2Q19 from 2Q18, which itself grew $5.5 billion from 2Q17.

The major players continued to dominate the space, according to Synergy Research. The top eight cloud providers account for 77% of the worldwide market, in the market research firm’s estimation. Amazon’s market share remained at its typical mark of around 33%, while Microsoft was at 18% for the third consecutive quarter. Google shares increased slightly to 9%. Chinese cloud providers combined to account for more than 12% of the global market, led by Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu.

“As far as cloud market numbers go, it’s almost as if there were no COVID-19 pandemic raging around the world. As enterprises struggle to adapt to new norms, the advantages of public cloud are amplified,” said John Dinsdale, a chief analyst at Synergy Research Group. “The percentage growth rate is coming down, as it must when a market reaches enormous scale, but the incremental growth in absolute dollar terms remains truly impressive. The market remains on track to grow by well over 30% in 2020.”

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About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.

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