Demand for cloud services in China increases to quarterly record high of US$4.3 billion
- The market is being driven by government stimulus measures, investment by service providers, digital transformation projects and increased demand for online services
- Second-quarter cloud spending in China accounted for 12.4 per cent of the US$34.6 billion total global investment during that period
“Momentum in China’s cloud infrastructure services market is set to accelerate,” Canalys analyst Blake Murray said in the report. “An already growing market is being propelled by government initiatives, commitment by cloud service providers to invest, as well as increasing demand for digital transformation and online services in the post-Covid-19 economy.”
Cloud computing adoption accelerates in China as economy recovers from coronavirus pandemic
Second-quarter spending on cloud services in China accounted for 12.4 per cent of the US$34.6 billion total global investment during that period, data from Canalys showed. The US, home to industry leaders Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, was still the world’s top market for cloud infrastructure services.
Cloud computing services enable companies to buy, sell, lease or distribute a range of software and other digital resources as an on-demand service over the internet, just like electricity from a power grid. These resources are managed inside data centres.
China’s accelerated adoption of cloud services last quarter is a testament to the increased demand for online collaboration and remote working tools, e-commerce, remote learning and content streaming as the country emerged from coronavirus lockdown.
China has new US$1.4 trillion plan to seize the world’s tech crown from the US
“Opportunity and demand resulting from the fallout of the pandemic has only fuelled enterprise commitment,” said Matthew Ball, Canalys chief analyst.
“Differentiation of cloud services offered, and execution of strategies will be important in the coming year,” said Murray of Canalys. He predicted “fierce competition” among China’s major cloud services providers.