New cloud research sheds light on the top six cloud providers in the U.S., Europe, China, Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world as Oracle, Salesforce and IBM try to compete with AWS, Microsoft and Google.

Across the U.S., Europe and most of Asia-Pacific, the three global leaders—Google, Amazon and Microsoft—hold a large cloud market-share lead over all the competition.

However, new data from Synergy Research Group shows that the big three cloud titans are not even ranked in the top 10 in terms of cloud market share in China, a massive region whose cloud market is led by local providers like Alibaba and Tencent.

“For a variety of reasons, the large Chinese market has to be viewed in isolation,” said John Dinsdale, a chief analyst at Synergy Research Group, in an email to CRN.

Another key insight from Synergy’s new report shows that AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft have a global network of over 560 operational hyperscale data centers as of the second quarter of 2024.

[Related: Forrester’s 10 Biggest Cloud Trends In 2024: Nvidia, VMware And AI]

CRN breaks down the biggest cloud companies on a regional and worldwide basis—including Oracle, Salesforce and IBM— as well as global market-share figures.

Worldwide Cloud Services Leaders AWS, Microsoft, Google Invest $48 Billion In Capex

Enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services reached $79 billion in second-quarter 2024, up 22 percent year over year.

The top six worldwide services market leaders in order are Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Alibaba, Oracle and Salesforce.

“This is quite simply a game of scale,” said Dinsdale. “Between them, Amazon, Microsoft and Google now have a global network of over 560 operational hyperscale data centers.”

In the second quarter alone these three cloud giants invested over $48 billion in Capex, most of which went toward building, equipping and updating their data centers and associated networks, according to Synergy.

“In order to stay at the forefront of rapidly changing technologies, and to then be able to deliver leading-edge services to multinational enterprises and to clients all around the world, requires enormous levels of funding and a long-term corporate commitment and focus,” Dinsdale said.

China Not Buying AWS, Azure Or Google Cloud Platform

Dinsdale said due to “geopolitical and historic factors,” America- and Europe-based cloud providers are “severely restricted from competing” in the Chinese market.

In terms of the Chinese cloud market, all top 10 providers are from China with the Google Cloud Platform (GCP), AWS and Microsoft Azure barely visible.

Alibaba ranks No. 1 in cloud share in China, followed by Tencent at No. 2 and China Telecom in third place.

Huawei ranks at No. 4, China Unicom at No. 5 and China Mobile at No. 6.

“The Chinese market is big enough to support multiple local companies,” said Dinsdale.

Oracle, Salesforce And IBM Fight For Cloud Share In U.S.

In all other regions outside China, cloud market share is led by Amazon at No.1, followed by Microsoft at No. 2 and Google at No. 3.

However, in each region, cloud providers like Salesforce, Alibaba, Oracle and IBM are battling to rank in the top five.

In the U.S., Oracle ranks No. 4 in cloud share, followed by Salesforce at No. 5 and IBM at No. 6.

In specific geographical regions, there is room for local players to compete using local expertise, local credibility and leveraging regulatory or data residency requirements, said Synergy’s Dinsdale. However, “that tends to restrict local players to targeting relatively niche opportunities,” he added.

Europe, APAC And Rest Of World

Outside the U.S. and China, Amazon is still the No. 1 cloud market player, followed by Microsoft at No. 2 and then Google at No. 3. Synergy Research also covered market share in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world.

In Europe, the No. 4 ranked cloud services leader is Oracle, followed by Salesforce at No. 5 and then IBM at No. 6.

In the rest of Asia-Pacific—excluding China—the No. 4 market leader is NTT, followed by Alibaba at No. 5 and then Fujitsu at No. 6.

Regarding the rest of the world, Salesforce is at No. 4, Oracle at No. 5 and IBM at No. 6.

“Despite the prominence of the big three, many growth opportunities do remain for those with a clear focus on very specific parts of the market or very specific groups of customers,” said Dinsdale. “That may not move the needle in terms of global or regional market share, but it can be a happy place for companies with realistic goals, strong execution and good management.”