…South Africa among top regional outperformers
The global cloud infrastructure services market reached $106.9 billion in the third quarter, posting a 28 percent year-over-year increase and the largest sequential gain in its history, according to Synergy Research Group.
The $7.5 billion quarter-over-quarter surge, the biggest ever recorded, marks the eighth straight quarter of rising growth rates and the strongest annual expansion in three years. After adjusting for currency fluctuations, the 28 percent YoY figure underscores sustained enterprise demand.
John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy Research Group, called the results simply very impressive, adding that, “We saw a record-breaking sequential increase and yet another jump in growth rates. The leading cloud providers all posted strong numbers, while the Chinese market is improving and neocloud companies are now making a real impact.”
Generative AI (GenAI) is the primary driver. GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) revenues are growing at over 200 percent annually, fueling massive infrastructure investments. Public IaaS and PaaS services, which dominate the market, grew 30 percent in Q3.Trailing twelve-month revenues now total $390 billion.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) held a 29 percent global share, followed by Microsoft Azure (20 percent) and Google Cloud (13 percent). The top three accounted for 67 percent of public cloud spending. While AWS leads in revenue, Microsoft and Google achieved higher growth rates.
Among tier-two providers, CoreWeave stood out, generating over $1 billion in quarterly revenue from a near-zero base two years ago. It is close to entering the top ten. OpenAI, Oracle, Databricks, and Huawei also posted above-average growth.
Growth was strong across all regions. In local currencies, South Africa joined India, Australia, Indonesia, Ireland, and Mexico in exceeding the global average, highlighting its accelerating role in Africa’s digital transformation.
The U.S. grew 27 percent and remains the largest market, surpassing the entire APAC region. In Europe, the UK and Germany led in size, while Ireland, Spain, and Italy showed the fastest growth. China’s cloud market showed renewed momentum after a slower period.
Synergy’s $106.9 billion estimate includes IaaS, PaaS, and hosted private cloud services, based on earnings data from nearly all major providers.
Dinsdale highlighted GenAI’s role, stating, “Revenues from GPUaaS are now growing by over 200 percent per year. That all adds up to a surging cloud market which bodes well for the coming years.”
The record $7.5 billion sequential increase signals a structural shift driven by AI workloads. With eight consecutive quarters of accelerating growth and South Africa riding the wave as a regional standout the cloud sector has entered a new phase of expansion.
