Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I take a look at how Oracle’s bold multicloud partnerships — with Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud.Highlights00:15 — One of the ways in which Oracle has been distinguishing itself is not just with its new technology, but with interesting go-to-market approaches. Now, Ellison recently said that while Oracle's multicloud business, where its three competitors, Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud, all offer the Oracle Database to their customers, that revenue was up over 1,500%.01:11 — He said so far, almost all of that growth has been generated by the Microsoft partnership because it was the first to come on board. Ellison believes that as the AWS partnership and Google get up to speed — and they get all the infrastructure set up to support that — you’d think that's going to drive a new round of growth for the Oracle Database business.02:12 — Can the Oracle Database hit $20 billion in revenue in five years? Ellison seemed bullish on that. One reason is the new Oracle AI Database, purpose-built for the AI Revolution. Second is these multicloud partnerships. There's such a demand among customers who have wanted the Oracle Database but have felt trapped using Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.03:15 — The AI reasoning, which Ellison was calling it, also known as inferencing, is something a lot of companies are going to be doing when they take these new tools and say, “How do I suit this for my retail company or my clothing company or my trucking company?” That's where, Ellison said, everybody’s going to want to do this. He sees massive demand for it.04:32 — In a full-length article that I have today on CloudWars.com, I offer four specific points on why this approach that Ellison led with Oracle — and that the others fully agreed to — is so important. It’s a great trend moving forward in the direction of more capability, more choice, more power in the hands of customers here in the buyer-seller equation. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I delve into OpenAI’s $38 billion partnership with AWS, giving Amazon a major role in powering and scaling OpenAI’s AI workloads.Highlights0:03 — OpenAI and AWS have announced a multi‑year strategic partnership valued at $38 billion for AWS. This deal will enable AWS to provide the infrastructure necessary to support the operation and scaling of OpenAI’s AI workloads. OpenAI is currently utilising computing resources through AWS, which include hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs and the capability to scale up to tens of millions of CPUs.01:02 — The infrastructure rollout for OpenAI includes architecture optimised for maximum AI processing efficiency and performance, with clusters designed to support a variety of workloads such as inference for ChatGPT and model training. This latest deal is yet another staggering example of the demand for AI services — a demand that companies like OpenAI must invest billions in to keep up with the pace.01:55 — OpenAI recently signed several significant deals with technology partners, including a remarkable $300 billion agreement with Oracle. While that figure might seem outrageous, it puts the $38 billion into a more relatable context. One thing is clear: wherever you stand in the AI revolution, whatever your role is — just make sure that you have one, because this unprecedented growth is touching every corner of the business world. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I dig into why Google Cloud’s momentum in AI-centric deals is reshaping the entire cloud landscape.Highlights00:30 — A few major things became evident from Google Cloud's third-quarter results from late last month. One, if you look at the giant deals Google Cloud signed in the first three quarters of 2025, it inked more billion-dollar-plus deals than it did in all of 2023 and 2024 combined. The pace of these huge investments by businesses is accelerating.01:05 — Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai expressed excitement that enterprise AI is now becoming a huge factor of these massive deals. In just three quarters, Google Cloud signed more billion-dollar deals than in the previous eight combined. Seventy percent of all Google Cloud customers are now purchasing the company’s AI products and services. Another indicator of momentum is its backlog.02:25 — Pichai also said that Google Cloud now has 13 products with annualized revenue run rates exceeding $1 billion. He emphasized the company's diversification and scaling of its product line, many of which are tied to enterprise AI. Gemini Enterprise has already been adopted by over 700 customers and deployed across more than two million seats.03:36 —Over the last two years, Google Cloud has been the fastest-growing player in the Cloud Wars Top 10. I’ll go into more detail in an article later this morning, but it’s worth noting that Google Cloud’s reign as the number one fastest-growing company is about to end. That’s because Palantir, a new entrant into the Top 10, posted an eye-popping 63% revenue growth in Q3.04:15 — Still, if you set aside the outlier of Palantir, Google Cloud remains the fastest-growing among the rest. It's executing well, with lots of momentum. The backlog data underscores that this isn't just about past performance — it’s a forward-looking indicator that their pipeline is incredibly strong. So, hats off to Google Cloud for doing a great job. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I call out AWS’s slowdown in both innovation and momentum, as the rest of the hyperscalers redefine the future of cloud.Highlights00:15 — Now it's been interesting here as we watch the four hyperscalers recently, Microsoft, AWS, Google Cloud, and Oracle. We hear that cliche about a rising tide lifts all boats. And I would say that AWS is definitely the one of the four hyperscalers that is rising less slowly, less quickly, and to not as great a height.01:08 — AWS is the company that created the cloud infrastructure business, and for most of those 19 years, AWS deserved to be called the King of the Cloud. But a few years ago, Microsoft's cloud, Azure, became, you know, quite prominent. Google Cloud started to innovate wildly. Oracle has been on fire. AWS lost the role, the opportunity, the swagger of being the leader02:16 — It is now the follower. AWS is not the innovator, either in technology or in go-to-market ways, and these financial results prove that they certainly had a very nice Q3. You can't just bring metrics or comparative performance from other industries and apply it to the Cloud Wars. Those numbers that AWS put up were just not anywhere close to as good as those of its competitors.03:36 — So, in either of those cases, AWS is being dramatically outgrown by the other three hyperscalers. There's just no way around it, and in a detailed article that I'll have on cloudwars.com later today, I lay that out both for the quarterly numbers and the latest RPO and backlog figures.04:23 — And in the AI Revolution, these four companies are in large part helping the entire global economy to establish, "How am I going to move forward? What am I going to need to do?" The other three have all stolen the jump on AWS and become much more dynamic, and that's revealed in the customer demand, expressed as quarterly revenue and also going forward as RPO or backlog.05:28 — What we're seeing here is the fact that this, this notion of innovation, of, you know, relentless performance, relentless excellence, relentless progress. It can be brutal at times. And while AWS is a big, successful company, is going to be around for a long time, the numbers are showing it is no longer anywhere close to the leader. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

T.K. Anand, Oracle's Executive Vice President for data and AI initiatives, discusses the transformative potential of Oracle’s AI Data Platform at Oracle AI World. He explains how businesses can leverage their private data to fully integrate AI into existing workflows, emphasizing that AI isn't just an add-on. Anand highlights pre-integrated variants tailored for Fusion and NetSuite customers, and delves into industry-specific applications, particularly in healthcare, showcasing innovations that enhance patient care and operational efficiency.

Workday has introduced a new Custom AI Model Library featuring over 120 pre-built models for contract intelligence. This innovative library aims to speed up contract reviews, uncover risks early, and minimize manual tasks. Notably, it expands the automated analysis of employment, payment, and data privacy terms. Jerry Ting emphasizes that this move represents a shift toward customizable, domain-specific intelligence, setting Workday apart in the evolving landscape of agentic AI.

Hasan Rizvi, Oracle's EVP of Database Engineering, dives into the groundbreaking launch of Oracle AI Database 26ai. He explores how this AI-native database lays the foundation for enterprise AI, emphasizing the urgency for companies to modernize their data infrastructure. Hasan highlights innovations like vector search, autonomous workflows, and the Autonomous AI Lakehouse, all designed to enhance performance and security in multi-cloud environments. He also discusses agentic AI's integration, ensuring businesses can harness AI's speed and intelligence effectively.

Palantir's revenue skyrocketed by 63% in Q3, surpassing expectations with almost $1.2 billion. The company defies categorization, blending apps, analytics, data, and AI into one transformative entity. Notably, U.S. commercial growth surged by 121%, making it the fastest-growing segment. With new contracts valued at $2.8 billion, Palantir illustrates its enduring momentum, challenging the notion of an AI bubble. CEO Alexander Karp's contrarian philosophy and commitment to real value set the company apart in the tech landscape.

In today's Cloud Wars Live, Mahesh Thiagarajan, EVP, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, speaks with Bob Evans about Oracle’s bold strategy to lead in the AI infrastructure race. He details how Oracle is scaling zeta-level compute, launching a 1.5 gigawatt GPU campus, and engineering full-stack solutions that combine bare-metal hardware, custom networking, and advanced software. With OCI’s rapid innovation and massive scale, Oracle is positioning itself as a serious challenger to cloud incumbents like AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud.Scaling AI at OracleThe Big Themes:Enterprise Data Continuity and Cloud Strategy: Enterprises rely on mission-critical data, such as databases, and migrating that data to the cloud remains a major strategic priority. The challenge isn’t simply moving data: It’s building a cloud platform that delivers real value to customers. As Thiagarajan and his team began developing Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to support these needs, they focused on core fundamentals: performance, cost efficiency, and security. This illustrates that for today’s cloud providers, success isn’t just about innovative features, but about engineering deep, resilient infrastructure.Customer‑First Execution: Thiagarajan repeatedly states there is no perfect playbook. The approach: wake up every day, talk to partners, figure out what customers need and execute. This mindset emphasises responsiveness and pragmatism. Given the rapid pace of change in cloud and AI, large providers cannot wait for general frameworks to emerge. They must iterate, partner, and build in real time.“Late” As An Advantage: Thiagarajan observes that arriving in cloud later gave Oracle the ability to learn from first movers’ mistakes and benefit from newer hardware generations without legacy baggage. While first movers often carry large legacy systems, later entrants can design for new architectures (bare‑metal, custom networking) from the ground up. That doesn’t guarantee success but presents an advantage if leveraged.The Big Quote: “You earn trust with [partners] by getting their products out to market fast into the hands of the customers, because that really translates to them, the end customer, being happy."More from Mahesh Thiagarajan and Oracle:Connect with Mahesh Thiagarajan on LinkedIn or take a look at his Oracle blog posts. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I take a look at Microsoft’s newest Copilot feature that lets users type to Vision instead of relying solely on voice.Highlights00:10 — Microsoft has rolled out a new update for the Microsoft Copilot app on Windows for Windows Insiders. This update allows users to interact with Copilot Vision using text inputs, and Copilot will respond, in turn, with text outputs in the same chat window. Previously, interactions with Copilot Vision were only possible through voice commands.00:50 — Microsoft has been rolling out new Copilot features rapidly in recent months. Vision allows you to interact with the AI assistant, Copilot, to answer questions about what's displayed on your screen or captured by your mobile camera feed. There’s been a significant push from Microsoft to make Copilot a voice-first AI tool.01:29 — Ultimately, this approach lowers the barrier to entry for users by removing the complexity associated with engaging with Copilot solely through text inputs. However, consumers will always desire choice, and this addition to Copilot’s capabilities is a positive step for Microsoft. Visit Cloud Wars for more.