Report: Public cloud spending expected to grow 20.4% in 2022

Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.4% in 2022 to total $494.7 billion, up from $410.9 billion in 2021, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc. In 2023, end-user spending is expected to reach nearly $600 billion.

As cloud drives modern, digital organizations, IT leaders are being more thoughtful in their choice of public cloud providers and going with those that can help them achieve their desired business and technology outcomes. 

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) remains the largest public cloud services market segment and is expected to reach $176.6 billion in end-user spending in 2022. 

Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is forecast to experience the highest end-user spending growth in 2022 at 30.6% as the foundational level of the cloud stack, underpinning every major consumer-focused online offering and mobile application. The second highest growth will be within desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) at 26.6%, as hybrid work prompts organizations to move away from powering their workforce with traditional client computing solutions like desktops. Right behind DaaS in end-user spending growth is platform-as-a-service (PaaS), reaching $109.6 billion in spending, or 26.1% growth from 2021, due to the demand for cloud-native capabilities. 

As core cloud services mature, the focus of differentiation among providers is shifting to capabilities that can disrupt digital businesses and operations in enterprises directly. Emerging technologies in cloud computing such as hyperscale edge cloud computing and secure access service edge (SASE) are disrupting adjacent markets and forming new product categories altogether, in turn creating additional revenue streams for public cloud providers.  

Gartner expects the organizations that combine cloud with such emerging technologies will be most successful in their digital transformation journeys.

Read the full report by Gartner.