Usman Salis
● The cloud computing battle is heating up, and Microsoft Azure is clearly winning. Azure's revenue jumped 39% year-over-year, leaving Google Cloud (34%) and Amazon Web Services (20%) behind. These numbers tell a story about where the market is really headed.
● What's driving this shift? Microsoft's smart move of weaving OpenAI technology into Azure has paid off big time. Companies across industries are flocking to it for AI capabilities. Meanwhile, AWS is showing signs of fatigue—its growth has dropped from over 30% back in 2021 to just 20% now. That's got to be worrying for Amazon, especially since pricing pressure could squeeze margins even further.
● The money tells the real story. Microsoft's cloud business has become its cash cow, overtaking everything else. Google Cloud is also gaining ground with its AI offerings and enterprise deals. For Amazon, if AWS keeps slowing down, we're talking billions in potential lost operating income—that's not pocket change.
● Beyond corporate balance sheets, this matters for the broader economy. Cloud infrastructure is pumping money into GDP and tax coffers across the US, Europe, and Asia. But regulators are watching closely, especially around energy consumption, data rules, and whether a few giants are getting too dominant.
Usman Salis
