Following the “CloudFirst” and “CloudSmart” initiatives, the US has introduced strategic documents to apply cloud computing in various fields, aiming to maintain its leading position in the economy, military, and technology. In May 2021, the US Department of Defense announced the Tactical Edge Cloud Strategy for locations outside the continental US (OCONUS), with the goal of global advantage through cloud strategy. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to implement a new data management policy in 2023 to promote cloud computing adoption among researchers. Additionally, in September 2022, the US released the "Mid-Term Challenges to National Competitiveness," which emphasizes the development of high-tech innovations like cloud computing, improving digital infrastructure, and expanding its competitive advantage in the economy, military, and technology.
The EU prioritizes digital sovereignty and has issued plans and guidelines for areas like sovereign cloud and trusted regulation. It encourages early adoption of cloud computing by government departments and promotes cloud services in public sectors to drive industry development. In July 2020, the EU proposed the GAIA-X cloud initiative, aiming to enhance trust in cloud services through transparency, security, and privacy. In May 2021, the EU adopted the "EU Cloud Code of Conduct," providing guidance for cloud service providers to comply with privacy regulations. France introduced the "National Cloud Strategy" in May 2021, promoting access to sovereign cloud services for digital transformation in public and private sectors. This strategy is based on "Trusted Cloud" certification, "Cloud Centers" policy, and industrial strategy. Italy announced its national cloud computing strategy in June 2021, involving the creation of a national-level cloud system for storing public sector applications and citizen data, with data migration to the "National Cloud.“
The UK and Australian governments have released national strategies to leverage the transformative potential of cloud computing. The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) published the "Defence Cloud Strategy Roadmap" in February 2023, building upon the Government Cloud Strategy (G-Cloud). This roadmap defines the cloud vision and strategic outcomes until 2025, providing a path for establishing a defence cloud. It emphasizes the application and expansion of cloud computing in the modernization and transformation of the UK's defence sector, recognizing its role as a key driver for digital backbone and data strategy. Similarly, Australia acknowledges cloud computing as a crucial enabler for industrial digital transformation. In December 2021, it updated and released the "Digital Government" strategy and the inaugural "2023-2025 Data Strategy." These initiatives aim to enhance the value and security of data applications through a unified cloud computing architecture and infrastructure.
Japan is actively promoting the widespread use of cloud computing in the government sector. The establishment of the Digital Agency in September 2021 marked the beginning of adopting government cloud services. The goal is to develop cloud services by 2025 that facilitate the sharing of administrative data among all central government agencies and local governments. By March 2026, nationwide interconnectivity between infrastructure and cloud services at the municipal level is targeted. In December 2022, cloud applications were recognized as one of Japan's eleven key areas of economic security. The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry has allocated a budget of 20 billion Japanese yen for cloud-related research and promotion activities.
Government policies have driven the maturation of cloud computing markets in the United States and Europe. US enterprise cloud adoption exceeds 85%, while in the European Union, it is around 70%.
Although cloud adoption in the Asia-Pacific region is currently lower, the market holds significant potential due to policy support and digital transformation. In 2022, cloud services expenditure in the Asia-Pacific region accounted for over 84% of total IT and business services expenditure, the highest globally. India serves as an example, with cloud expenditure growing by nearly 22% in 2022, comparable to European regions. Moreover, 91% of infrastructure decision-makers in India have implemented at least one cloud deployment model, and 46% of application projects are deployed on the cloud. It is projected to reach 58% by 2023. Major cloud service providers like AWS, Microsoft, and Google have deployed over one-third of their availability zones in the Asia-Pacific region. AWS, for instance, has established 40+ availability zones in India, Singapore, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. They also plan to build an additional 12 availability zones in Southeast Asia and New Zealand, positioning the Asia-Pacific region to account for over 50% of global availability zones upon completion.
In 2022, China's cloud computing market reached 455 billion yuan, growing by 40.91% compared to 2021. The public cloud market accounted for 325.6 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 49.3%, while the private cloud market reached 129.4 billion yuan, growing by 25.3%. Despite global growth at 19%, China's cloud computing market continues to experience rapid development and demonstrates high resilience in challenging economic conditions. It is projected that by 2025, China's overall cloud computing market size will exceed one trillion yuan.
In 2022, the IaaS market reached 244.2 billion yuan, growing at a rate of 51.21%, but declining by 29.24% compared to 2021. PaaS market revenue was 34.2 billion yuan, growing by 74.49%, driven by cloud-native applications like containers and microservices. The SaaS market generated 47.2 billion yuan in revenue, growing at a rate of 27.57%. Long-term growth is expected to stabilize. The PaaS market, influenced by trends like large-scale AI models, is projected to be the primary growth battleground. SaaS, as a common choice for small and medium-sized enterprises adopting cloud services, is expected to experience significant growth due to policies promoting digital transformation.
In 2022, the cloud computing market for telecommunications operators showed rapid growth. Tianyi Cloud (China Telecom Cloud), Mobile Cloud (China Mobile Cloud), and Unicom Cloud (China Unicom Cloud) generated revenues of 57.9 billion yuan, 50.3 billion yuan, and 36.1 billion yuan, respectively, with growth rates exceeding 100%, surpassing the industry average. According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Alibaba Cloud, Tianyi Cloud, Mobile Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Unicom Cloud hold the top six positions in China's public cloud IaaS market. In the public cloud PaaS sector, the leaders are Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Tianyi Cloud, and Baidu Cloud.
