Cloud infrastructure services spending increased 32% to US$39.9 billion in Q4 2020, following heightened customer investment with the major cloud service providers and the technology channel, according to Canalys.
For full-year 2020, total cloud infrastructure services spending grew 33% to US$142 billion, up from US$107 billion in 2019. Demand was higher than expected, despite an initial slowdown in large consultative-led projects.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the leading cloud service provider again in Q4 2020, accounting for 31% of total spend. After a mixed Q3 in terms of customer performance, AWS had a resurgence in customer investment. This fueled 28% growth year on year for AWS in cloud in Q4 2020.
Microsoft’s Azure growth rate accelerated once again, up by 50% to boost its market share in the global cloud services market to 20%.
Google Cloud was the third largest cloud service provider in Q4 2020, with a 7% share. It reported growth of 58% in Q4 2020。
Alibaba Cloud grew 54% in Q4 2020 to account for 6% of the total market. It remained the leading cloud service provider in the Asia Pacific region, including China. It updated its hybrid cloud strategy during the quarter, with the launch of its Hybrid Cloud Partner Program and on-premises appliances targeting small and medium-sized businesses. The program will enable partners to plan, design and resell Alibaba Cloud services with free licenses and unlimited CPU cores.
A recent Forrester report used 33 criteria to rank JD Cloud & AI first in the areas of strategy layout, product capability covering AI and machine learning, infrastructure management and operation, as well as market performance for Q4 2020.
The report also determined that JD Cloud & AI is among the few providers who have made progress in both strategy and product perspective while Alibaba is ranked first with the strongest current offering and Huawei on top with the strongest strategy.
CIW Subscribers (Annual) can download the chart here to see the comparison of the cloud platforms in China.
Top 10 forecasts for China cloud computing market 2021-2024
Cloud Market Share in Q3 2020
The worldwide cloud market grew 33% to US$36.5 billion in Q3 2020, which was US$2.0 billion higher than the previous quarter and US$9.0 billion up from Q3 2019 according to Canalys data.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) continued to lead the cloud service market in Q3 2020, increasing its market share by total spend from the previous quarter to 32%.
It grew its business by US$2.6 billion in Q3 compared with the same period last year, continuing its rapid expansion. Overall, AWS generated more revenue than the next three largest cloud service providers combined.
Microsoft started its new fiscal year with another strong performance in its Azure business, growing 48% on an annual basis to reach a 19% market share, up from 17% market share in Q3 2019.
Google Cloud maintained its momentum, particularly around its six targeted industries. Google Cloud retained its position as the third-largest cloud service provider with a 7% share.
China Cloud Market Share in Q3 2020
Alibaba Cloud continued to lead the Chinese market with 41% market share in Q3, where cloud computing is a key part of the government’s development plans. It is also the overall leader in the Asia Pacific region. Alibaba Cloud accounted for 6% of the worldwide market.
Cloud infrastructure services spend in China grew 65% in Q3 2020 to exceed US$5 billion for the first time. Total expenditure was over US$750 million higher than in the last quarter and nearly US$2 billion more than in Q3 2019 according to the latest Canalys data.
China remained the world’s second-largest market, accounting for 14% of global investment. The top four vendors collectively accounted for 80% of the total spend in Q3 2020.
Alibaba Cloud remained the leader with a 41% share and continued strong growth. Huawei Cloud and Tencent Cloud both saw healthy growth, each taking a 16% share. Baidu AI Cloud was the fourth-largest cloud service provider, accounting for 7% of total spend.
China smartphone shipment and market share in Q3 2020
Cloud Market in Q2
The Q2 2020 worldwide cloud infrastructure services market continued to surge, as spending grew 31% to US$34.6 billion, according to Canalys.
Overall, total expenditure was over US$3.5 billion higher than the previous quarter and US$8 billion more compared with Q2 2019 according to Canalys data. But growth rates continued to be constrained due to a slowdown in large projects, as the economic outlook weakened, and existing IT assets made to last longer.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the leading cloud service provider in Q2 2020, accounting for 31% share of total spending. Microsoft Azure reached 20% market share for the first time after a strong end to its fiscal year.
Google Cloud remained the third largest cloud service provider with 6%, after exceeding the US$2 billion mark, followed by Alibaba Cloud with 5%.
China Cloud Market
China’s cloud infrastructure services spend reached a record US$4.3 billion in Q2 2020, growing 70% year-on-year and accounting for 12.4% of global investment as the second-largest market, up from 9.6% in Q2 2019.
The growing use of cloud services is driven by digital transformation projects combined with accelerated consumer use of online services. The top four vendors collectively accounted for 78.7% of total spending in Q2 2020.
Alibaba Cloud retained its leading share of 40.1%. Huawei Cloud and Tencent Cloud were its closest challengers, with 15.5% and 15.1% share. Baidu AI Cloud was the fourth-largest cloud service provider in China, accounting for 8.0% of total spending.
Alibaba Cloud announced plans to invest 200 billion yuan (US$28 billion) over the next three years to enhance its cloud software and hardware. Baidu also announced massive plans to increase its investment in AI, cloud computing, data centers (5 million intelligent cloud servers by 2030), and chips over the next decade.
China Public Cloud Market
In the first quarter of 2020, the overall market of China’s public cloud services (IaaS / PaaS / SaaS) will reach US$3.92 billion according to IDC, of which the IaaS market and PaaS market will grow by 57.6% and 64.6% respectively.
From the perspective of IaaS + PaaS market, the first quarter of 2020 increased by 58.7% year-on-year, slightly down from 61.9% in the fourth quarter of 2019.
In the first quarter of 2020, the trend of market centralization will be further strengthened. Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Huawei cloud, China Telecom, and Amazon AWS are among the top five in the IaaS + PaaS market, with an overall market share of 77.5%.
Due to the growth of consumption of public cloud resources by Internet industries such as video, game, e-commerce, online education, medical and other industries, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud and China Telecom have all maintained a good growth rate.
Huawei Cloud continues to play its collaborative advantages, AI and 5G technology, and its ranking in IaaS market has also risen to the third. From the perspective of new entrants, China Mobile has joined the public cloud battlefield.
Video Cloud Market
China’s video cloud market is estimated by IDC to increase 48.67% year-on-year in 2020 and the country’s video cloud solutions market reached $4.62 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $4.72 billion in 2024.
China’s video cloud solutions market grew faster than the cloud infrastructure market, with growth rates of 53.9%.
The top five cloud service providers in China’s video cloud market are Tencent Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Baidu Cloud, Kingsoft Cloud, and Huawei Cloud, accounting for 64.9 percent of the market share.
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