Spending on cloud infrastructure increased 12.5 percent in the first quarter of 2021 (1Q21) to $15.1 billion, IDC report said.
Investments in non-cloud infrastructure increased 6.3 percent year over year in 1Q21 to $13.5 billion.
Spending on shared cloud infrastructure increased 11.6 percent year over year in 1Q21, reaching $10.3 billion. IDC expects shared cloud infrastructure spending to surpass non-cloud infrastructure spending in the near future.
Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure increased 14.7 percent year over year in 1Q21 to $4.8 billion with 45.5 percent of this amount deployed on customer premises. IDC expects that cloud environments will continue to outpace non-cloud throughout its forecast.
IDC is forecasting cloud infrastructure spending to grow 12.9 percent to $74.6 billion for 2021, while non-cloud infrastructure is expected to grow 2.7 percent to $58.5 billion after two years of declines.
Shared cloud infrastructure is expected to grow by 12.2 percent year over year to $51.8 billion for the full year. Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure is expected to grow 14.7 percent to $22.7 billion for the full year.
The service provider categories IDC follows are: cloud service providers, digital service providers, communications service providers, and managed service providers. In 1Q21, service providers as a group spent $15.5 billion on compute and storage infrastructure, growing 12.5 percent, and accounting for 54.0 percent of total compute and storage infrastructure spending. IDC expects compute and storage spending by service providers to reach $74.7 billion for 2021, growing at 11.1 percent.
FORECAST
IDC expects spending on compute and storage cloud infrastructure to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3 percent over the 2021-2025 forecast period, reaching $112.9 billion in 2025 and accounting for 66.1 percent of total compute and storage infrastructure spend.
Shared cloud infrastructure will account for 67.5 percent of this amount, growing at a 10.5 percent CAGR. Spending on dedicated cloud infrastructure will grow at a CAGR of 13.1 percent. Spending on non-cloud infrastructure will rebound slightly in 2021 but will flatten out at a CAGR of 0.3 percent, reaching $57.9 billion in 2025.
Spending by service providers on compute and storage infrastructure is expected to grow at a 10.1 percent CAGR, reaching $108.8 billion in 2025.
