The International Data Corporation (IDC) has reported that there has been a 13.5% increase in spending on computing and storage infrastructure products for cloud infrastructure, based on data from its Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker: Buyer and Cloud Deployment.
Cloud infrastructure spending in 2021
In the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21), cloud infrastructure spending, including dedicated and shared environments, increased to $21.1 billion, which is the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. In 2021, cloud infrastructure and spending totaled $73.9 billion which is 8.8% more than the spending in 2020.
The non-cloud infrastructure investments have also increased 1.5%, totaling $17.2 billion in 4Q21 year over year, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of growth. The spending reached $59.6 billion in 2021, which is an increase of 4.2% compared to 2020.
4Q21 spending on shared cloud infrastructure reached $14.4 billion, which is an increase of 13.9% compared to 2020. It totaled $51.4 billion for 2021, indicating an increase of 7.5% from 2020.
There has been 12.5% year over year increase in spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure in 4Q21, amounting to $6.7 billion and a growth of 11.8% in the year 2021 totaling to $22.5 billion.
According to IDC, service providers as a group spent $21.2 billion on compute and storage infrastructure which accounted for 55.4% of total compute and storage infrastructure spending in 4Q21, which is an 11.6% increase from 4Q20. Total spending by service providers in 2021 reached $75.1 billion on 8.5% year-over-year growth, which accounted for 56.2% of total compute and storage infrastructure spending.
Regional level cloud infrastructure spending
The year-over-year spending on cloud infrastructure had increased in most regions in 4Q21 except Western Europe and Latin America, which declined for the quarter.
In 2021, Asia/Pacific excluding Japan and China grew the most at 43.7% year over year. While Canada, Central, and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and China grew by double-digits, Japan grew in the high single digits, and Western Europe in the low single digits. The United States grew 1.5% while Latin America declined for the year.
Cloud infrastructure spending predictions for 2022
As per IDC, there will be a continuously strong demand for shared cloud infrastructure. This will increase the spending on shared cloud infrastructure which can surpass non-cloud infrastructure spending in 2022.
For 2022, IDC forecasts:
- Growth of 21.7% in spending on cloud infrastructure amounting to $90.0 billion compared to 2021.
- The decline of 0.3% in non-cloud infrastructure spending will amount to $59.4 billion.
- 5% increase in shared cloud infrastructure spending year over year totaling $64.5 billion.
- Dedicated cloud infrastructure spending growth of 13.1% reaching $25.4 billion.
- Compute and storage spending by service providers to grow 18.7% year over year, reaching $89.1 billion.
- Spending on cloud infrastructure spending for most regions to grow with the highest growth in the United States at 27.8% and a decline of 21.7% year over year in Central and Eastern Europe.
Long-term forecasts
IDC’s long-term forecasts for 2021-26 indicate that spending on compute and storage cloud infrastructure will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.6% over 2021-2026, reaching $133.7 billion in 2026 which will account for 68.6% of total compute and storage infrastructure spend.
- Growing at a 13.4% CAGR, shared cloud infrastructure will account for 72.0% of the total cloud amount.
- Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure will see a CAGR of 10.7%.
- Non-cloud infrastructure spending is expected to flatten out at a CAGR of 0.5%, reaching $61.2 billion in 2026.
- Compute and storage infrastructure spending by service providers is expected to grow at an 11.7% CAGR and reach $130.6 billion in 2026.
Image and source credit: IDC
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