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Overseas providers AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud capture 69% of the European market for cloud computing. “No worries” to have, says Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner in charge of Competition and Digital.
© Getty – Thierry Monasse
Move on, there is nothing to see at the moment. This is essentially what Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Competition and Digital Affairs, told Reuters about the dominance of American giants Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud market. In his eyes, their hegemony would not be a problem at the present time. “No, so far we haven’t had any concerns”she assured.
Essential since the Covid-19 pandemic, the cloud market is growing. World leader in the sector, Amazon Web Services today holds a market share of 33%, far ahead of Microsoft Azure, whose share rose from 12 to 21% between 2017 and 2021, according to the firm Synergy Research Group. The Redmond firm seems best placed to challenge the domination of AWS, while Google Cloud only flirts with 10%.
The situation in Europe is implacable. Still according to Synergy Research Group, AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud capture 69% of the European market for cloud computing. Local providers share the crumbs, with OVHcloud coming in behind with a 1% market share, ahead of Deutsche Telekom (2%).
Gaia-X will boost competition, says Vestager
This situation does not suit the northern host who has filed a complaint against Microsoft with the EU Competition Authority. With this antitrust complaint, OVHcloud intends to denounce Microsoft’s business practices, deemed anti-competitive, to gain ground in the cloud market. The French group, which went public last October, believes that the North American giant enjoys a dominant position with its suite of office software, which gives it an unrivaled advantage to crush the competition.
Despite the picture painted by OVHcloud, Margrethe Vestager believes that Gaia-X, a project that aims to create a “European data infrastructure” from a governance entity to enact major principles of security, interoperability and data portability, will stimulate competition despite the defection of several players, such as Scaleway. “It’s not something we’re engaged in, but I basically consider it pro-competitive when you have someone to show potential customers that there are more than two giants where you can place your business. ”, she told Reuters. Words that should not delight OVHcloud, which hopes to win its showdown against Microsoft before the European Commission.