Cloud spending hits record $168B in Q3, Synergy says

Companies around the world spent a record $168 billion on cloud infrastructure services in the third quarter of 2026, up 55% from a year earlier, Synergy Research Group said on October 29. The figure follows a week of earnings in which all three of the largest cloud providers reported faster growth. Synergy said the growth rate has now risen for 12 straight quarters and that the market doubled in size in just eight quarters. It credited artificial intelligence, saying AI-specific services now make up about a third of all cloud spending.srgresearch.com

Big three accelerate

Amazon Web Services, part of Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 1.41%, reported revenue of $46.0 billion, up 39.3%. The company's earnings release called it the unit's fastest growth in nearly five years. Its revenue run rate is now $184 billion. "Our AWS investment in functionality and infrastructure is working," CEO Andy Jassy said in the release, adding that he expects growth above 40% in both 2027 and 2028. AWS beat the analyst consensus compiled by StreetAccount and posted operating income of $17.77 billion, up 55%, CNBC reported.cnbc.com+1

Microsoft ↘ 1.55% said Azure revenue grew 48%. Google Cloud, owned by Alphabet ↘ 1.45%, more than doubled its revenue, which rose 103% to $30.7 billion, according to The Stack. Google Cloud's growth has sped up every quarter this year, from 63% in the first quarter to 82% in the second, Stock Titan noted.stocktitan.net+1

By Synergy's count, Amazon held 26% of the worldwide market, Microsoft 19% and Google 16%. Among smaller providers, the fastest growth came from Oracle ↘ 6.37% and neoclouds such as CoreWeave ↘ 9.66% and Nebius ↘ 10.38%. Synergy said the rise of the neoclouds is eating into the market share of many established providers. The US makes up 44% of the global market and grew fastest among major countries.srgresearch.com

Spending weighs on investors

The strong cloud results came with very large capital budgets. Amazon reaffirmed that it expects to spend about $220 billion on capital projects in 2026, and its shares fell after the results as AI spending overshadowed cloud growth, Fortune reported. Alphabet's capital spending reached $51.4 billion in the quarter, Fierce Network reported, and the company forecast $195 billion to $205 billion for the full year, according to Constellation Research.fortune.com+2

"As the growth rate jumps to well over 50%, the leading cloud providers are benefiting from surging revenues, but they are also facing a much-changed market landscape, with AI labs and neoclouds emerging as both partners and competitors," said John Dinsdale, Synergy's chief analyst, in the firm's statement.srgresearch.com