Summary

The global cloud storage market has experienced significant growth since 2020, with a forecasted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.74% through to 2026, driven by the increasing need for secure data storage and management in enterprises, mobile technology use, and automation in sectors like aerospace and defense. In 2022, the cloud sector achieved €217 billion in sales. American companies Amazon (AWS with 34% market share), Microsoft (Azure with 21%), and Google (Cloud with 11%) dominate the market, jointly claiming 66% of the total sector revenue in 2022.

Companies' adoption of cloud computing is motivated by scalability, automatic backups, increased security, and improved collaboration, with 84% leveraging cloud for scalable features and backups, and 82% for enhanced security. However, the challenge of data sovereignty and the US Cloud Act has prompted the rise of European cloud leaders like OVH, aiming to compete against the dominance of the American tech giants.

Dynamic Growth and Key Trends in Cloud Storage Demand

The cloud storage market in France has observed vigorous growth, propelled by the surge in demand for efficient, secure data management solutions coupled with a robust adoption of virtual work environments accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. As the world increasingly gravitates towards digitization, French businesses and individual users alike have shown a marked preference for cloud-based storage solutions, which led to a notable market expansion estimated at almost between 15 and 20 billion euros in 2021. This trend is projected to maintain an upward trajectory, with expectations for the market to burgeon to well above 20 billion euros by 2025.

This burgeoning market is characterized by a strong demand for both public and private cloud storage options. The public cloud services enjoy a shared infrastructure that is used among multiple users or companies whereas private clouds offer a dedicated infrastructure for individual companies.  Interestingly, cloud infrastructure service providers grew at a rate of over 30%, indicating a competitive environment despite the heavy dominance of the abovementioned giants.

There has also been a significant emphasis on developing a European cloud leader, epitomized by OVH, aiming to challenge the dominance of American firms within France and across the continent. In alignment with global trends, the cloud storage element accounts for a significant portion of the entire cloud market, totaling to just over 70 billion euros, signifying its integral role in the digital economy. France’s market shows that approximately one-third of cloud revenues are attributable to cloud storage, highlighting its significance in the overall market landscape.

Companies in France are increasingly leaning on cloud services, with over 30% utilizing the cloud for various purposes including file storage, database storage, and for CRM applications. This uptake is not homogenized across countries within the EU, with France’s adoption rate being higher than the EU average for certain applications. Mirroring the corporate sphere, private consumers are also migrating en masse to the cloud, utilizing popular storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. In terms of economic impact, the integration of online and cloud tools into business operations signifies cost optimization and operational efficacy, with a substantial percentage of companies attributing reduced startup costs and enhanced competitiveness to these digital advancements. 

Key Players Dominating the Cloud Storage Landscape

In the world of cloud storage, a few names stand out for their preeminence and sheer scale. These market leaders are not only advancing the frontiers of technology but also shaping the way data is stored and handled in the digital age. Each of these titans brings unique strengths to the table, creating a highly competitive atmosphere that drives innovation and shapes the future of cloud services. Here's an overview of the major players cementing their positions in this domain:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS): As a pioneering force in cloud services, AWS offers a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions that extends beyond storage to include computing power and various other functionalities. Its robust infrastructure ensures high reliability and security, catering to clients across various industries.

 

  • Microsoft Azure: Microsoft's footprint in the cloud storage market is significant, capitalizing on its long-standing heritage in the enterprise IT space. Azure provides an integrated set of cloud services, including storage, that work seamlessly with existing Microsoft products and platforms, thereby offering a coherent ecosystem for its users.

 

  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP):  With Google's reputation for vast data handling and analytics, GCP stands out for integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning into its cloud offerings. Google Cloud marries the power of its analytics with secure and scalable storage options, presenting an attractive proposition for data-intensive users.

 

  • OVHCloud: As Europe's leading challenger to the American giants, OVHCloud offers a vision for digital sovereignty, emphasizing data security and privacy with its cloud storage solutions. It especially appeals to European customers who are concerned about regulations like GDPR and the USA's Cloud Act, providing a blend of competitive technology and local compliance.

These major players, with their deep pockets and extensive research and development capabilities, not only signify a heavily concentrated market but also set a high bar for entry, making it challenging for other contenders to make a significant impact. As the cloud storage market continues to expand, their influence is likely to grow, further entrenching their position at the top of the cloud services hierarchy.

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  • Last update : 22/05/2023
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Summary and extracts

1 Market overview

1.1 Definition and scope of the study

Cloud storage is a form of computer data storage used either by private individuals or by companies, where data is stored in logical pools. This data is commonly referred to as "stored on the cloud". Cloud storage is a technology that enables data to be stored on internal or external servers.

Cloud storage should not be confused with cloud computing, which enables the remote use of an IT tool such as a computer.

There are two types of cloud storages: public and private. Public clouds use infrastructure shared between individuals or companies (data is stored on the same servers), while private clouds are specific to a single company (one server per company).

In France and worldwide, the cloud market is dominated by American companies Amazon, Microsoft and Google, which together will account for 64% of market share by 2021. The group of cloud giants - AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud - will outperform the market(+45%) in 2021. Their market shares in the fourth quarter were respectively 34% for AWS, 21% for Microsoft Azure and 11% for Google Cloud. But it is the latter that is recording the strongest year-on-year growth(+64%), ahead of Microsoft Azure(+46%) and AWS(+40%). Other cloud infrastructure service providers grew by 36% [Kinsta].

The cloud market is growing strongly in France, with growth of 48% for Google and 53% for Microsoft by 2021. Other suppliers, such as IBM, Oracle, Orange Business Services and Scaleway, share 30% of the market, but have nevertheless seen growth of 23%.

The challenges of cloud independence and security have led to the development of a European cloud leader, OVH, which aims to compete with the GAFAMs in France and Europe.

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 health crisis and the development of teleworking, the cloud sector continues to soar, becoming the most dynamic digital sector in terms of growth.

1.2 Global market size

The global cloud storage market is set to experience remarkable growth, with a compound annual growth rate (***) of **.**% over the forecast period **** to ****. This growth is driven by increasing demand for low-cost backup, storage and data protection in enterprises, as well as the need to manage the growing volumes of data ...

1.3 French market size

In ****, the French market for Cloud solutions and services amounted to almost ** billion euros, with growth of **.*%. This positive trend is set to continue through to ****, with business forecast to reach ** billion euros (***). This expansion represents an increase of over ** billion euros over a four-year period, taking the sector's market share ...

2 Demand analysis

2.1 Companies' online storage habits

In the European Union of ** (***), **% of companies used one or more cloud services in ****. Cloud adoption varies from country to country, with usage rates of **% in Spain, **% in France, **% in Germany, **% in Italy, **% in Sweden and **% in Finland.

Share of companies using the cloud in various European countries EU, ****, in Source: ...

2.2 Cloud storage for private customers

By ****, it's estimated that over *** zettabytes of data will be stored in the cloud. To put this in perspective, one zettabyte is equivalent to one billion terabytes (***). At the same time, total global data storage is expected to exceed *** zettabytes in the same year, meaning that almost half of this data ...

2.3 Consumers' sensitivity to price and potential income

Companies have recognized the significant impact of online tools not only on business continuity during periods of confinement, but also in optimizing costs. According to the Public First study: **% of companies believe that the cost of setting up a business has been significantly reduced thanks to online tools. **% of companies believe ...

2.4 Awareness of the ecological impact of computing

The move to cloud computing not only offers companies cost and time savings, but also helps to reduce energy consumption and improve the sustainability of their IT infrastructure. According to Public First's study, **% of French companies are concerned about the environmental impact of their internal IT infrastructure. It is estimated that ...

3 Market structure

3.1 Cloud storage market value chain

A proposed value chain for the cloud storage market is shown below:

Infrastructure providers : They invest in the data centers, servers and network equipment needed to create a robust cloud storage infrastructure. Software developers : They design and develop the cloud storage management systems that enable users to store, organize and access ...

3.2 A highly concentrated market

A market dominated by American giants:

The gap between American cloud giants and European cloud specialists continues to widen in France, according to a recent study by Markess by Exaegis. By ****, the three American giants - Amazon, Microsoft and Google - have captured **% of spending growth in the French market, representing ...

3.3 Barriers to entry and key success factors

The cloud storage market presents certain barriers to entry, which can make it difficult for new players to enter. This is why the market remains in the hands of the giants, and why it seems complicated that other players will be able to break through in the years to come. Here's ...

4 Offer analysis

4.1 Features and functions offered by suppliers

Cloud storage offers a variety of use cases in many fields. Here are just a few common examples:

Data backup and recovery: Users can back up their critical files and data in the cloud to protect them against hardware failure, disaster or accidental loss. If they need to, they can easily ...

4.2 Service quality, data security and supplier reliability

Data protection is a major concern for companies of all sizes, given the rise in cyber-attacks and the resulting financial consequences. The average cost of a data breach can be very high, exceeding * million euros, and the total cost of cybercrime worldwide now exceeds $*,*** billion.

Ransomware attacks are often opportunistic, exploiting ...

4.3 Pricing models and special offers

Several factors influence the cost of enterprise cloud storage:

Storage: Costs are generally expressed in terms of cost per gigabyte per month or price per terabyte per month or per year. Each cloud provider offers different levels of storage with varying costs, performance and levels of availability. Storage operations: API-based actions ...

5 Regulations

5.1 Regulations

Regulations in the cloud storage sector may vary by country and region. However, there are certain international regulations and standards that apply Trend Micro.

Laws and regulations:

General Data Protection Regulation (***): The RGPD is a European regulation that aims to strengthen and harmonize the protection of personal data of European Union ...

6 Positioning the players

6.1 Player segmentation

*For OVH, market share and sales are those generated in France, as the company is not yet highly internationalized.

Note: the various worldwide sales figures have been calculated on the basis of existing data on the market shares of the various companies and worldwide cloud storage sales.

List of charts

  • Global market size
  • Worldwide market share of major cloud players
  • Cloud storage market size
  • Cloud market size in France
  • Cloud storage market size in France
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Latest news

Oracle launches an incompatible sovereign cloud SecNumCloud. - 20/06/2023
  • Oracle has announced the launch of its EU Sovereign Cloud offering on June 20, 2023.
  • Two data center sites have been opened for the occasion, one in Frankfurt, Germany, the other in Madrid, Spain.
  • This dedicated offer is aimed at the 27 member countries of the European Union, but is also open to other countries such as Norway.
  • The EU Sovereign Cloud offering does not meet the SecNumCloud criteria established by the French National Agency for Information Systems Security (Anssi).
  • Oracle is targeting critical sectors with its EU Sovereign Cloud, such as healthcare, financial services, telecom operators and the public sector.
  • Oracle's position in the global cloud market is currently 7th, according to Synergy Research, with a 2% market share.
Salesforce cuts 10% of its workforce and closes offices in 2023 - 06/01/2023
  • Several big names in American tech have announced major job cuts
  • Redundancy plan will cost the company between $1.4 billion and $2.1 billion
European Investment Bank (EIB), 200 million euro loan to OVHCloud - 25/11/2022
  • 450 million euros raised through IPO
  • financing of 920 million euros
  • 200 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB)
  • Objective of setting up data centers in Europe
  • Extensive investment program, to build 15 new data centers, ten of them in Europe in 2 years
  • 4 company takeovers in two years
  • Further acquisitions likely

Companies quoted in this study

This study contains a complete overview of the companies in the market, with the latest figures and news for each company. :

Google Cloud
Amazon Web Services
Microsoft
IBM
Tencent
Oracle
SalesForce
OVH
Antemeta
Sewan
Data4 service
Qarnot Computing

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