Amazon, Microsoft, and Google control over 70 percent of the European cloud market, giving three U.S. tech giants effective control over European websites’ ability to stay online.
The dominance of the three American companies comes from their massive growth, which has eclipsed that of local providers, according to data from market research firm Synergy Research Group.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (Isaac Brekken/AP)
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (Jason Redmond/ Getty)
The company’s chief analyst told the Register that the dominant companies have consolidated their grip on the market by investing sums into their service that competitors can’t match.
The figures from Synergy Research Group show the cloud market in Europe is five times as big as it was in early 2017 with revenues reaching €10.4 billion (c $10.9 billion) in calendar Q2 2022.
During that half a decade, local service providers collectively grew turnover by 167 percent but despite this, their market share plunged from 27 percent to 13 percent as they were outgrown by US rivals.
In contrast, the big three sucked in 72 percent of enterprise spending on cloud in Q2. “The top three really are in a league of their own,” John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy, told The Register.
The analyst explained, “They place huge financial bets, had a long-term view of investments and profitability, have maintained a focused determination to success, and have consistently achieved operational excellence. They have now achieved scale that others cannot match and every quarter they continue to invest amounts that others can’t match.”
The dominance of the big companies is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the vast resources they can invest allows them to provide an unmatched level of service.
On the other hand, their stranglehold on the market, combined with a lack of anti-censorship regulation, enables them to quash dissident and controversial websites. In 2021, for example, Amazon was able to choke off the momentum of the alternative social media platform Parler by booting it off its service.
Source: Breitbart
