Cloud spending soars as hyperscalers up AI investment - and could reach a landmark high in 2026
The global cloud market has been growing by 20% or more for six consecutive quarters2025 cloud spend was very nearly $400 billion, led by three global hyperscalersOmdia predicts a further 27% growth in 2026 as demand continues
New figures have claimed global cloud spend in the final three months of 2025 rose 29% year-over-year to $110.9 billion, making it the sixth consecutive quarter not just of any growth, but of 20%-or-higher growth.
Omdia, the company behind the data, explained AI's shift from experimentation to production deployment is to blame for the huge growth, with spend expanding far beyond the already-high demand for CPUs and GPUs to storage and networking too.
With quarterly cloud revenue coming in at $90.9 billion in Q1, $95.3 billion in Q2 and $102.6 billion in Q3, this brings the full-year spend to a total of $399.6 billion – a year-over-year growth rate of 24%.
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Global cloud market keeps on growing
But as for the individual companies that make up the market, nothing has changed with three leading hyperscalers remaining unbeatable. AWS continues to account for around one-third (32%) of the market, with Microsoft Azure (22% share) and Google Cloud (12% share) following in second and third place.
Though Google trails far behind its competition, its 50% growth is far bigger than those of Azure (39%) and AWS (24%). Google is the third of three $3 billion companies, behind Apple and Nvidia.
"As AI continues to raise infrastructure requirements while constraints remain, vendors that can expand in a more targeted and efficient way will be best positioned to lead in the next phase of competition," Senior Director Rachel Brindley wrote about the months that lay ahead.
Omdia also noted that AWS ended the quarter with a $244 billion backlog and Google Cloud with a $240 billion backlog (up from $157.7 billion in just three months), indicating sustained demand.
Looking ahead, Omdia is predicting a further 27% growth in cloud infrastructure spending in 2026, bringing total yearly spend to more than $500 billion.
