Microsoft Azure is breathing down AWS’ neck in the cloud market after the software giant revealed a steep rise of 89% in its cloud revenues. The growth recorded for Microsoft’s cloud segment Intelligent Cloud Division can be attributed to their expansion efforts into various markets globally.
According to Microsoft’s Q4 report, the total revenue has jumped by 23% to earn USD 32 billion in revenue. The report further stated that a considerable part of this revenue is contributed by the cloud division which stands to USD 9.6 billion.
Speaking about this growth, Microsoft say that they have kept pace with the dynamic changes in the cloud market by expanding markets, acquiring entities, partnering with companies and innovating their product line. They also say that they betted on the right horse (cloud computing) early on when many players in the market contemplated on its potential.
Explaining this in detail, Satya Nadella, CEO at Microsoft, commented:
Our early investments in the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge are paying off, and we will continue to expand our reach in large and growing markets with differentiated innovation. Microsoft executives told analysts they expected another year of growth, with demand for computing on the rise and the technology giant well-positioned in that market.
Industry analysts say that with the growth of Microsoft Azure, the race for gaining a higher market share in the cloud market will intensify. It will be interesting to see how AWS reacts to this in a bid to keep competitors at bay.