Cloud Market Share Q2 2023: AWS, Microsoft, Google Battle

Here’s the new worldwide Q2 cloud market share numbers for Amazon, Alibaba, IBM, Google and Microsoft from Synergy Research Group.

Worldwide cloud market share numbers and rankings are in for Amazon Web Services, Alibaba, Google, IBM and Microsoft as these five cloud leaders, combined, captured over 70 percent of the global market during the second quarter of 2023.

“As Amazon and Google share nudged up a bit in Q2, Microsoft share nudged down,” said John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy Research Group, in an email to CRN. “The relative scale of their cloud operations is now Microsoft being twice the size of Google, with Amazon being almost equal to the other two combined.”

Amazon, Google and Microsoft all recently reported their cloud financial earnings for Q2 2023 with the three tech giants generating a total of roughly $54 billion in cloud sales combined. AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft have been the biggest cloud computing companies for years, as the three battle for market leadership position for customers and channel partner mindshare.

Q2 2023 Global Market Share

Before breaking down Synergy’s global cloud market share numbers for Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Alibaba, it is important to note how fast the market grew in Q2 2023, according to new data from Synergy Research Group.

Enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services reached nearly $65 billion in Q2 2023, representing a sales increase of 18 percent or about $10 billion year over year. Synergy says cloud infrastructure services revenues include Infrastructure as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform as-a-Service (PaaS) and hosted private cloud services. Public IaaS and PaaS service account for the bulk of the market, both growing by 19 percent in Q2 2023 year over year.

Although the growth rate in cloud spending continues to slightly nudge down quarter after quarter, this is the “law of large numbers,” as cloud sales has spiked over the past several years, Dinsdale said. “The current economic climate has crimped some growth in cloud spending, but the market continues to expand at a healthy rate despite those short-term challenges,” he said.

CRN breaks down the exact cloud market share percentages for cloud infrastructure services during Q2 2023 from Google Cloud, AWS, Alibaba, IBM and Microsoft.

No. 5: IBM

Q2 2023 Market Share: 3 Percent

Q1 2023 Market Share: 3 Percent

Q2 2022 Market Share: 4 Percent

The Armonk, N.Y.-based longtime technology conglomerate won the No. 5 cloud market share ranking during Q2 2023 by wining 3 percent share. This represents a slight market share drop year over year compared to IBM’s 4 percent market share status in Q2 2022.

Last month, IBM reported Q2 total sales of $15.5 billion, representing flat sales growth year over year.

The company doesn’t specifically break out its cloud sales numbers. Instead, a large portion of IBM’s cloud business is part of the company’s Software segment, which reached $6.6 billion in Q2 2023, up 7 percent year over year. IBM’s Infrastructure segment, which includes its hybrid cloud infrastructure, reported revenues of $3.6 billion in Q2, up 4 percent year over year.

IBM’s stock price is up 11 percent compared to one year ago, currently trading at around $144 per share.

No. 4: Alibaba (Alibaba Cloud)

Q2 2023 Market Share: 4 Percent

Q1 2023 Market Share: 4 Percent

Q2 2022 Market Share: 5 Percent

Alibaba is China’s largest domestic cloud provider, outperforming the likes of fellow Chinese cloud competitors Huawei and Tencent Cloud in the region.

The company captured the No. 4 cloud services market share spot during Q2 2023 by winning 4 percent share, according to Synergy’s data. This is slightly down from Alibaba’s 5 percent global market share in Q2 2022.

It is important to note that Alibaba Group unveiled in May that it plans to spin out its Alibaba Cloud business likely later this year and have it become an independent publicly listed company. The move came after Alibaba Cloud reported a 2 percent sales drop year over year during Q1 2023.

Alibaba Group Holding shares, which include Alibaba Cloud, are up about 5 percent compared to one year ago, trading at around $95.50 per share as of Wednesday. Alibaba is slated to report Q2 2023 earnings later this week.

No. 3: Google (Google Cloud)

Q2 2023 Market Share: 11 Percent

Q1 2023 Market Share: 10 Percent

Q2 2022 Market Share: 10 Percent

Google’s cloud business, Google Cloud, was the fastest-growing cloud company in the world out of the five market share leaders during Q2 2023. Google Cloud reported over $8 billion in cloud sales during Q2, representing a year-over-year sales growth of 28 percent. The cloud company has been reporting similar, if not higher, sales growth over the past several quarters.

This has led Google to increase its cloud market share by an entire percentage point in Q2 2023, reaching 11 percent global share.

Google Cloud’s market share has historically hovered around 9 percent share to 10 percent market share over the past few years, according to Synergy data. For only the second time ever, the Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud company reported a profit in Q2 2023. Google Cloud generated operating income of $395 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of $590 million in Q2 2022.

Google’s stock is up 13 percent compared to one year ago, trading at around $131.50 per share on Wednesday.

No. 2: Microsoft

Q2 2023 Market Share: 22 Percent

Q1 2023 Market Share: 23 Percent

Q2 2022 Market Share: 21 Percent

The Redmond, Wash.-based software and cloud giant captured 22 percent share of the global cloud services market during Q2 2023. Microsoft’s Azure cloud business unit has been the second largest cloud provider in the world for years.

Microsoft’s 22 percent market share in Q2 2023 is up one-percentage point year over year, but down one-percentage point compared to the most recent Q1 2023.

Microsoft does not provide to the public its Azure sales figures. Instead, Microsoft combines Azure, server product and other cloud services revenue all under its Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud umbrella. The company’s Intelligent Cloud group generated $24 billion in revenue during calendar year Q2 2023, representing an increase of 15 percent growth year over year.

Microsoft’s stock is up 15 percent compared to one year ago, trading at around $324.50 per share on Wednesday.

No. 1: Amazon (AWS)

Q2 2023 Market Share: 32 Percent

Q1 2023 Market Share: 32 Percent

Q2 2022 Market Share: 34 Percent

Amazon Web Services continues to be the dominant worldwide market share leader in cloud services, winning 32 percent share of the global market. AWS was a pioneer in cloud computing and has led the market for over a decade.

However, the Seattle-based cloud giant has seen revenue growth slowdown in 2023 to its lowest rates in years. AWS reported only a 12 percent revenue growth rate during Q2 2023 on total cloud sales of $22.1 billion. Comparatively during Q2 2022, AWS revenue grew 33 percent year over year.

This somewhat monumental sales slowdown led to AWS’ market share to drop from 34 percent market share in Q2 2022 to 32 percent market share in Q2 2023. It is key to note that AWS’ current $88 billion-dollar annual run rate is much larger than Google Cloud’s $32 billion current run rate and Microsoft Azure’s annual run rate, which Microsoft does not disclose.

Amazon’s stock price is basically flat compared to one year ago, trading at around $138 per share on Wednesday.

Other Notable Market Share Companies

Salesforce Q2 2023 Market Share: 3 Percent

Oracle Q2 2023 Market Share: 2 Percent

Tencent Q2 2023 Market Share: 2 Percent

There is little debate that AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft will continue to dominate the cloud computing market for years to come. However, there are a few other large IT companies that are striving to win more cloud market share on a worldwide basis.

After the top five market leaders, Salesforce ranks No. 6 in terms of cloud market share after winning 3 percent share in Q2 2023. Oracle and China-based Tencent followed by both capturing approximately 2 percent market share.

The remaining cloud service providers who have roughly a 1-percent market share include: Baidu, China Telecom, China Unicom, Huawei, Fujitsu, NTT, Snowflake, SAP and Rackspace. AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft combined accounted for a whopping 65 percent of the global cloud market in Q2 2023.