Cloud computing has moved from an optional efficiency play to the backbone of enterprise technology strategy. In 2025, leaders aren’t debating whether to adopt cloud—they’re optimizing how to balance performance, cost, resilience, sovereignty, and compliance across increasingly complex estates. The figures in this report provide a reality check for transformation plans, vendor negotiations, and risk decisions, helping teams anchor priorities in what the market is actually doing.
Across infrastructure (IaaS), platforms (PaaS), and software (SaaS), growth remains strong. AI training and inference, global digital services, data gravity, and accelerated release cycles all push more workloads into cloud regions and edge locations. At the same time, organizations are dealing with new constraints: multicloud sprawl, selective repatriation, sustainability commitments, and country-by-country data localization. Knowing the numbers behind these forces is essential for 2026 road-mapping and beyond.
The statistics below are compiled after reviewing multiple trusted sources and longitudinal surveys from industry analysts, research firms, and peer-reviewed studies (including, where applicable, Gartner, Statista, IDC, Flexera, and public sector briefings). Use them as directional guardrails—signals to guide architecture, FinOps, and cloud security programs—rather than as a single source of truth for every industry or geography.
Top 10 Key Cloud Statistics (2025–2026)
- US$ 723.4B in 2025: Worldwide public cloud end-user spending is projected at US$ 723.4 billion in 2025, reflecting sustained double-digit growth. This underlines that cloud has become mission-critical infrastructure for most enterprises.
- US$ 850–900B in 2026: Public cloud expenditure is expected to reach US$ 850–900 billion in 2026. Budgets are shifting from experimentation to platform-level commitments across multiple providers.
- 20.4% CAGR to 2030: The broader cloud computing market is forecast at ~20.4% CAGR through 2030. Long-run growth is powered by modernization, AI, and industry-specific cloud solutions.
- ~32% share: One hyperscaler continues to lead with roughly ~32% of global infrastructure market share. Consolidation at the top drives standardization while encouraging multicloud strategies to reduce lock-in risk.
- 90%+ adoption: Over 90% of organizations now use one or more cloud services. Cloud is a default choice for new workloads and a key destination for legacy modernization.
- 51%+ workloads: About half of enterprise workloads run in public cloud environments. The ratio is increasing as migration backlogs clear and greenfield teams build cloud-native by default.
- 5+ platforms: The average enterprise relies on ~5 different cloud platforms or services. This mix balances best-of-breed capabilities, regional coverage, and compliance needs.
- 20–35% cost cuts: Optimization and automation can reduce cloud costs by 20–35%. FinOps practices, rightsizing, and AI-assisted scaling are the biggest levers.
- ~21% repatriation: Approximately ~21% of workloads/data have seen some repatriation. This is a targeted correction—overall net migration to cloud remains positive.
- 20% electricity, 5.5% emissions: Data centers could consume ~20% of global electricity and contribute ~5.5% of emissions by mid-decade. Sustainability is becoming a design constraint, not a side initiative.
Market & Growth Statistics
- US$ 595.7B → US$ 723.4B (2024→2025): Public cloud spending rises ~21.5% year over year, reinforcing the secular shift to on-demand infrastructure.
- US$ 2.4T by 2030: The combined market—SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, and hybrid—could exceed US$ 2.4 trillion by 2030, expanding cloud’s share of enterprise IT spend.
- +24–25% in 2025: Infrastructure and platform services (IaaS/PaaS) are expected to grow ~24–25% in 2025 as organizations move data platforms and AI pipelines.
- US$ 400B+ infra services (2025): Annualized cloud infrastructure service revenues are on track to surpass US$ 400B, driven by capacity adds and GPU demand.
- Double-digit across segments: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS maintain double-digit growth in 2025, with industry clouds accelerating vertical adoption.
Adoption & Usage Statistics
- 94% enterprise usage: Among large enterprises, cloud adoption exceeds 94%. Even conservative sectors are expanding use in analytics and collaboration.
- 96% public / 84% private: Most companies use public cloud, and many also use private cloud, creating hybrid estates to satisfy performance and regulatory needs.
- 60% business data in cloud: Roughly 60% of business data now resides in cloud platforms, reflecting data lakehouse patterns and SaaS consolidation.
- 93% developers: About 93% of developers deploy code to the cloud at some stage, standardizing CI/CD and feature velocity.
- Heavy users ≈71%: Organizations running a majority of workloads in cloud reached about ~71%, a sign of maturing operating models.
Provider & Market Share Statistics
- ~32% / ~23–26% / ~10%: The top-three infrastructure providers cluster around these shares, with regional players strong in specific markets.
- 80%+ Azure usage: More than 80% of enterprises report using a leading enterprise cloud provider for at least some workloads, often for identity and productivity alignment.
- Top-3 >60% combined: The top three account for over 60% of global infrastructure market share, reflecting economies of scale.
- GPU/AI clouds surge: Specialized AI clouds are experiencing rapid demand for training and inference, reshaping capacity planning and regions.
- Marketplace growth: Purchases of third-party solutions via cloud marketplaces continue strong double-digit growth, shortening vendor onboarding cycles.
Security, Compliance & Risk Statistics
- Top 3 challenges: Cost control, security, and skills gaps remain the most cited cloud hurdles, particularly across multicloud estates.
- +50% faster detection/response: AI-assisted SecOps can reduce mean-time-to-detect/respond by 50%+, improving outcomes for identity and workload threats.
- Misconfig leads incidents: Misconfiguration remains a leading driver of cloud security events, reinforcing the need for guardrails and policy-as-code.
- Zero-trust rising: Identity-centric, zero-trust access models are gaining adoption as users and apps span multiple clouds.
- Compliance as driver: Regulatory pressure is a top reason for hybrid and sovereign cloud strategies, especially in finance, healthcare, and public sector.
Sustainability & Energy Statistics
- ~20% electricity: Data centers may consume ~20% of global electricity by mid-decade, elevating energy efficiency to a board-level topic.
- ~5.5% emissions: Compute infrastructure could contribute ~5.5% of global emissions, motivating carbon-aware architectures.
- 100% renewable targets: Major providers have pledged 100% renewable energy on aggressive timelines, influencing vendor selection.
- Carbon-aware scheduling: Workload placement by grid carbon intensity can cut emissions by double-digit percentages without sacrificing SLOs.
- Liquid cooling adoption: Advanced cooling adoption is rising due to high-density AI compute, reducing PUE and thermal constraints.
Cost, Efficiency & FinOps Statistics
- 20–35% savings: FinOps and automation commonly unlock 20–35% savings via rightsizing, scheduling, and commitment planning.
- ~20–30% waste: Idle and over-provisioned resources often create ~20–30% spend waste—first-year optimization targets are usually straightforward.
- Cost a top-2 objective: Optimization ranks as a #1–#2 objective for most teams, often tied to unit economics and product margins.
- Egress fees matter: Network egress costs materially affect architecture, placement, and exit strategies, encouraging data-local analytics.
- DR/HA on cloud >70%: Over 70% of organizations rely on cloud for disaster recovery or high availability, improving RTO/RPO at lower capex.
Repatriation, Sovereignty & Localization Statistics
- ~21% repatriation: About ~21% of workloads/data have seen some move back on-prem or to private cloud for cost, latency, or control.
- 70%+ evaluating sovereign: By 2026, over 70% of large organizations will evaluate or adopt sovereign cloud for regulated data.
- Data gravity grows: Larger datasets increase locality requirements, driving hybrid patterns and regional analytics.
- Latency-sensitive splits: Real-time workloads increasingly split across edge and regional zones to meet response-time SLOs.
- Contractual portability: More buyers negotiate portability and exit clauses to limit vendor lock-in and de-risk future moves.
Industry & Regional Statistics
- Top 3 industries: Finance, healthcare, and technology remain among the leading adopters due to analytics intensity and compliance requirements.
- North America largest share: North America continues to be the largest region by cloud spend, reflecting hyperscaler presence and SaaS maturity.
- APAC fastest growth: Asia-Pacific shows the highest growth rate through 2026, driven by digitalization and new data center capacity.
- Europe hybrid/sovereign usage: Europe shows high hybrid use with strong emphasis on sovereignty and localization.
- India DC capacity doubling: India’s data center capacity is widely expected to expand rapidly by 2026, supporting regional cloud and AI demand.
Conclusion
The cloud story in 2025–2026 is one of scale, specialization, and stewardship. Spending is climbing toward the US$ 900B mark as organizations modernize applications, adopt AI services, and scale globally. At the same time, practical realities demand new disciplines: multicloud governance, cost control, exit strategies, data residency, and carbon-aware design. The numbers here capture both the momentum and the guardrails—why cloud is essential, and why disciplined architecture matters as much as adoption itself.
For CISOs and IT leaders, the winning playbook blends FinOps discipline, identity-first security, automation for resilience, and data-informed workload placement across public cloud, private cloud, and edge. Supplier strategy also matters: negotiate portability, clarify exit paths, and align with providers’ renewable-energy milestones. With AI accelerating demand and compute density, organizations that combine ambition with strong guardrails will extract the most value while protecting margins and posture.
These statistics were assembled after reviewing multiple trusted sources across analyst research, large industry surveys, and academic work. Treat them as directional inputs to calibrate investments, right-size environments, prioritize optimization, and reduce risk. Cloud is now the platform for innovation; keeping it efficient, secure, and sustainable is the competitive advantage.
FAQs
What is public cloud spending in 2025?
It is projected around US$ 723.4 billion, with continued expansion into 2026 as more workloads modernize and AI usage grows.
How large could the cloud market be by 2030?
Several forecasts place the broader market above US$ 2.4 trillion by 2030, reflecting persistent double-digit growth across SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS.
Which providers lead global market share?
The top three collectively hold over 60% of infrastructure share, with a single leader near ~32%, followed by two strong challengers.
Are most organizations multicloud?
Yes. Most enterprises use multiple clouds and services—often ~3–5—to balance capability, cost, resilience, and data residency requirements.
How much of our workloads are in public cloud today?
Benchmarks show around ~51% of workloads currently in public cloud on average, with steady year-over-year increases.
Can AI really lower our cloud bill?
Automation and FinOps practices commonly deliver 20–35% savings by rightsizing instances, scheduling non-prod hours, and optimizing commitments.
Is repatriation reversing cloud adoption?
No. Repatriation is selective and targeted. While certain workloads move back for cost, performance, or sovereignty, overall net migration remains strongly positive.
How serious is the energy footprint?
Models suggest data centers could reach ~20% of global electricity use and ~5.5% of emissions by mid-decade, pushing green-cloud initiatives.
What should we prioritize for 2026 planning?
Focus on FinOps, identity/zero-trust controls, observability, automation, edge strategies, and clear portability/exit terms with key providers.
Which industries lead cloud adoption?
Finance, healthcare, and technology are among the top adopters, with Asia-Pacific showing the fastest regional expansion through 2026.
