Looking back on a tumultuous Q2 in the acceleration economy, the outsize achievements of three big cloud providers stood out: Google Cloud was the high-growth leader with a 36% increase, Microsoft was by far the champion cloud revenue with $25 billion, and Oracle is poised to explode into hypergrowth.
These glowing achievements come amid great performances from other Top 10 Cloud Wars Players:
- AWS Nearly Hit Staggering $20 Billion Quarterly Revenue, Standing at $19.7 Billion;
- Sève recorded an increase in turnover of 34% (24% at constant exchange rates);
- IBM cloud business grew 18% to $5.9 billion; and
- ServiceNow grew by 25% and maintained its aggressive 4-year growth forecast.
But let me mention why I think the Q2 achievements of Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Oracle deserve special attention.
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Google Cloud
Although this is the first time since Alphabet began disclosing Google Cloud’s financial details that its growth rate has fallen below 40%, Google Cloud remains the growth rate leader among some very headstrong and fiery competition in the Top 10 cloud wars. Furthermore, it did so even while losing President of Global Field Operations, Rob Enslin, who left to become co-CEO of UiPath.
Microsoft
By hitting a $100 billion annualized run rate for cloud revenue, Microsoft is playing a major role in showing just how massive the cloud industry has become: it generated $25 billion in quarterly revenue while managing to grow by 28% despite the recession and fluctuations in the exchange rate.
Oracle
Ok, this one is a bit of a cover because Oracle only has promised what will be his great achievement – he has not yet had time to fully deliver. This big potential achievement, which I expect Oracle to nail down, is this: in about a month, when Oracle releases its fiscal Q1 numbers for the three months ending August 31, it will show growth cloud revenue by more than 40% and will become only the second Top 10 Cloud Wars member to consistently perform at hypergrowth levels. (The other is Snowflake, which in its last quarter grew 84% — but because Snowflake’s quarterly revenue of $394 million is much smaller than other Top 10 companies, I put it in a different category in direct comparisons.) In the second calendar quarter, Oracle scored by doing two things that shook the market: it closed on the acquisition of Cerner, and CEO Safra Catz have guided cloud growth in Q1 of the fiscal year, including Cerner from 44% to 47%.
So despite rampant inflation, the onset of a recession, global turmoil, and all the downturn in investment that such things can trigger, we’re still seeing absolutely phenomenal growth and strength in the Top 10. cloud wars.
As I’ve noted before, it’s a great tribute to those companies but, on a deeper level, it’s indicative of something much bigger: the deep belief among business leaders across all industries that modern cloud technology is the way to fight uncertain times and also be ready to fly when the right time comes.
The biggest growth market the world has ever seen? Oh, you betcha!