The above chart compared the cloud revenues of two leading cloud technology giants, Amazon and Microsoft. The cloud business of Amazon is known as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Microsoft’s intelligent cloud business mainly includes Azure. In 2022, AWS generated $80.1 billion, while Microsoft’s intelligent cloud segment generated $75.25 billion. Microsoft’s total cloud revenue (commercial cloud revenue) which includes other cloud businesses apart from Azure, was higher at $91.2 billion. If we compared the commercial cloud revenue of Microsoft with AWS, Microsoft is ahead of Amazon in terms of generating revenue from cloud based services.
A comparison of the cloud revenues of two leading cloud players
Amazon and Microsoft both are undisputed leaders in the cloud industry. Microsoft’s Azure is a cloud computing platform that enables developers and businesses to create, deploy and manage apps and services through the Microsoft managed data centers. Microsoft Azure started in 2010 and is enjoying growing popuarity over time.
Amazon’s range of cloud services have seen their popularity growing for several reasons. Apart from higher accessibility and the ease to deploy and operate, Amazon’s competitive pricing and content driven marketing strategy have also enabled wider reach and growth in sales.
AWS now accounts for a significant portion of the revenue of the company. AWS or Amazon Web Services offers a very large range of services. A large number of leading organizations like Netflix depend on AWS for worldwide availability of their services.
AWS Revenue versus Microsoft Intelligent Cloud
| Year | AWS Revenue (Millions) | Microsoft Intelligent Cloud Revenue (Millions) |
| 2022 | $80,096 | $75,251 |
| 2021 | $62,202 | $60,080 |
| 2020 | $45,370 | $48,366 |
| 2019 | $35,026 | $ 38,985 |
| 2018 | $25,655 | $ 32,219 |
| 2017 | $17,459 | $ 27,407 |
| 2016 | $12,219 | $ 24,952 |
| 2015 | $7,880 | $23,715 |
Microsoft’s cloud revenue has remained consistently higher than Amazon over the past several years. In 2019, the company saw its total revenue from intelligent cloud grow to $38.99 billion from $32.22 billion in 2018. In 2020, again Microsoft’s intelligent cloud revenue was higher than Amazon’s revenue from AWS. Microsoft generated $48.366 billion from intelligent cloud while Amazon generated $45.37 billion from AWS. However, in 2021, Amazon’s cloud revenue grew higher compared to Microsoft’s. While Microsoft generated $60.08 billion from intelligent cloud in 2021, Amazon generated $62.202 from AWS.
Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud Revenue 2021:
Microsoft’s intelligent cloud revenue grew by $11.7 billion or 24% in 2021 compared to 2020. Server products and cloud services revenue of Microsoft increased $11.2 billion or 27% driven by growth in Azure. Azure revenue grew 50% due to growth in Microsoft’s consumption-based services. Server products revenue increased 6% driven by hybrid and premium solutions, on a strong prior year comparable that benefited from demand related to SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 end of support.
Microsoft’s enterprise services revenue which is a part of its intelligent cloud revenue increased $534 million or 8% driven by growth in premier support services.
Intelligent Cloud Revenue of Microsoft 2019:
The intelligent cloud revenue of Microsoft grew $6.8 billion or 21% driven mainly by growth across server products and cloud services revenue including GitHub. Its revenue from server products and cloud services grew by $6.5 billion or 25% driven by Azure. Azure revenue growth was 72%, due to higher infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service consumption-based and per user-based services. Server products revenue increased 6%, mainly due to continued demand for premium versions and hybrid solutions, GitHub, and demand ahead of end-of-support for SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008. The Enterprise services revenue of the company increased $278 million or 5% driven mainly by growth in Premier Support Services and Microsoft Consulting Services.
AWS Revenue 2021:
Amazon’s cloud revenue experinced a significant growth in 2021 compared to the previous year driven by increased customer usage and partially offset by pricing changes. AWS revenues grew 37% in 2021 compared to 2020.
AWS accounted for 13% of the company’s net sales in 2021 compared to 12% in 2020. Amazon generated $62.202 billion in net revenues from AWS in 2021 compared to $45.37 billion in 2020.
While AWS is the smallest business segment of Amazon, it still accounts for the largest part of its net operating income. AWS accounted for $18.532 billion in net operating income in 2021 compared to $13.531 in 2020. North America, which is the largest operating segment of the company accounted for $7.271 billion in operating income in 2021 compared to $8.651 billion in 2020.
AWS Revenue (Amazon Revenue from Cloud Services): 2019
On the other hand, the cloud revenue of Amazon (AWS revenue) grew to $35 billion in 2019 from $25.7 billion in 2018. AWS revenue represented 12% of the net sales of the company in 2019 against 11% in 2018. While consolidated net revenue of the company experienced 20% growth in 2019, its AWS revenue experienced 37% growth. However, Amazon has continued to make prices more competitive across the AWS range and that offset some of the revenue growth from AWS. Increased customer usage mainly drove the growth of revenue across the AWS segment.
About Amazon:
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is the largest ecommerce brand as well as one of the leading cloud services brand. The company which was founded in 1994 has seen enormous growth over the last five years and has greatly extended its range of cloud based services. Amazon has its headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States. The CEO of Amazon is Jeff Bezos. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the cloud services platform of Amazon. Amazon is also the largest R&D spender in the entire industry. The company has divided its business into three main segments that include Amazon North America, Amazon International and AWS.
About Microsoft:
Microsoft is a leading player in the computing and cloud industry which has seen enormous growth during recent years led by Satya Nadella. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates recently stepped down from his position to focus on his philanthropic activities. The company was founded in 1975. It has its headquarters in Redmund, Washington, United States. The company has experienced sharp growth in its revenue from the Cloud based services. Intelligent Cloud revenue of the company in 2019 reached around $39 billion, yoy growth of 21%. Microsoft Azure experienced revenue growth of around 72% in 2019 compared to the previous year. Microsoft has acquired a very large number of business over time.