While Microsoft is quite popular for software development, very few people are aware of its cloud computing solutions. Microsoft Azure is becoming a leading provider of cloud hosting and infrastructure services that helps in accelerating the growth of businesses.
Launched back in 2010, it provides basic cloud hosting services such as virtual machines and advanced services like AI-powered bot services, machine learning, and more. Microsoft Azure also offers beneficial services to businesses such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. With the increase in demand for these services, the Azure market share is expected to witness notable growth in the coming years. Let’s take a look at the overall Azure market.
Aspiring to build a successful career in Microsoft Azure? Check out what’s there for you in the Azure certification path!
Microsoft Azure Market Share
As Microsoft Azure offers a wide range of solutions to businesses, calculating the Azure market share accurately can be quite tricky. At the present scenario, Microsoft holds a market share of 1% within the industry of web hosting. This might not seem to be impressive as Microsoft is known as one of the largest tech companies around the globe.
However, it is important to keep in mind that a single percentage is actually a billion-dollar business. In addition to this, about 303 companies leverage Azure Blockchain Workbench, thereby representing a market share of 5.07% of the total market of Blockchain as a Service.
Microsoft Azure also hosts more than 450,000 websites that contribute significantly to the growth of Azure revenue. As per BuiltWith, the cloud hosting services of Microsoft Azure is being widely used by more than 857k live websites. The existence of a strong connection with a number of enterprises further helps in increasing the market share of Microsoft Azure.
When it comes to the top cloud hosting providers, Azure still holds a notable position among the 10k websites present on the web. Among the million websites on the web, about 6.82% of websites avail the cloud hosting services of Amazon Azure. The cloud business of Microsoft is generating more success for the company and contributing significantly towards the expansion of its market.
Microsoft Azure Revenue
The exact revenue of Microsoft Azure is not clear as Microsoft bundles it under the overall cloud services. According to the reports of Microsoft, in 2020, the commercial cloud segment of Microsoft reached the mark of USD 50 Billion. As the fiscal run rate of Microsoft cloud services was below USD 10 Billion four years ago, the current Azure revenue seems to be impressive.
As the revenue of Microsoft includes earnings of Dynamics 365, Office 365 Commercial, and cloud properties of Microsoft, the exact earning of Azure IaaS is not clear. However, the sales revenue of PaaS and IaaS products of Microsoft, including Azure, increased to USD 12.3 Billion in the third quarter of 2020. Instead of such growth in revenues, Microsoft Azure is still behind AWS that is its main competitor, as AWS has registered a revenue of more than USD 35 Billion in the year 2019.
Microsoft Azure Growth
When it comes to Azure growth, Microsoft has reported staggering growth statistics in the past few quarters. However, potentials for growth in the near future are quite high for Microsoft Azure. In 2019, Microsoft bagged a contract worth 10 billion dollars to deliver cloud computing and consulting services to Pentagon. Moreover, Microsoft has also received a significant deal with NBA to leverage Surface table and Azure to enhance the customer experiences.
Recently, Microsoft has also signed a deal with one of the largest asset managers of the world, BlackRock, for hosting the Aladdin investment management platform on the cloud platform of Microsoft. Moreover, various enterprises have used nearly 1,295 cloud services of Microsoft in the year 2019. This is an increase of about 3.9% than that of the previous year. It means that there is still an opportunity for Azure as well as other competitors to sell MORE cloud services. This, in turn, will ensure a high Azure growth rate.
Microsoft Azure Competition
Microsoft Azure has a number of competitors in the cloud computing market. Some of the most prominent competitors include AWS and Google. Let’s take a look at the market share of Azure vs. other cloud platforms. Microsoft and Amazon together hold more than half of the total market worldwide.
While the cloud infrastructure market shares of Amazon are nearly 33%, that of Microsoft stands at more than 17%. According to the reports of 2019, AWS had reported the highest sales gain. However, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure have witnessed a bigger increase in the percentage.
AWS vs Azure vs Google – Detailed Cloud Comparison
Conclusion
From these statistics, it is clear that in the case of Azure vs. other cloud platform AWS takes the lead position. However, with the faster growth rate of Microsoft Azure, the company is going to give tough competition to AWS in the years to come. The immense potentials for growth will further accelerate the expansion of the Microsoft Azure market share.
