- Huawei Cloud is ranked among top three for South Africa’s highly competitive cloud market.
- The company’s cloud services division launched in South Africa six years ago.
- Research firm Africa Analysis predicts the local cloud market to grow to R113 billion by 2028.
The South African cloud market is a competitive one, especially as three of the world’s biggest hyperscalers operate in the region and have official points of presence that service the rest of the African continent in SA.
One may then expect Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud to feature as the top three players in SA’s cloud market, but a recent report from Africa Analysis tells a different story, with Huawei Cloud ranking in the top three according to the research firm.
Huawei recently cited the report, titled the 2024 South Africa Cloud Computing Market Growth Forecast Report, noting its significance given the fact that Huawei Cloud’s services officially launched in South Africa only six years ago, while the other players have been operating in the market for longer.
“This achievement is particularly notable as nearly one in five surveyed users are running significant workloads on Huawei’s platform, showcasing the company’s strong competitive strategy in the region,” the company pointed out in a release shared with Hypertext.
The report also indicated that the local cloud market, valued at approximately R35 billion in 2023, is expected to grow to over R113 billion by 2028. This represents substantial growth potential for the market, with Huawei playing a potentially significant role in its expansion.
“This report finding bodes well for the investments we have made in growing digital infrastructure in South Africa. We are starting to reap the rewards of our strategy because we entered the market at an opportune time and focused on working with local partners in SA when establishing our data centres,” said Steven Chen, managing director of Huawei Cloud South Africa (pictured below).
Huawei attributed its success in the local cloud market to uniqueness of its offering, where its public cloud capabilities are designed as an on-premise private cloud, entirely independent of public cloud infrastructure.
“This approach empowers enterprises with complete control over their data and applications, ensuring compliance with stringent regulatory requirements and enhancing security,” it explained.
“Our latest Cloud Stack 8.3 offering, launched recently in South Africa, is designed to address the burgeoning demand for private cloud solutions. It not only facilitates seamless integration with third-party providers but also leverages Huawei’s robust cloud architecture to deliver unparalleled performance and scalability,” emphasised Chen.
Highlighting elements found in the report, Huawei noted its part when it comes to the three contributing factors of cloud growth in South Africa – investments from hyperscalers, governments and corporate collaboration, and building more data centres.
“Infrastructure that enables the country’s digital transformation is a priority. We have invested in foundational software and hardware technologies, and we are leading the way when it comes to introducing IT hardware that is green and low-carbon,” Chen pointed out regarding Huawei’s local investments in cloud.
He also went on to explain some of the steps that Huawei will be taking moving forward, particularly when it comes to solidifying its top three spot, as well as offering services that meet an ever-evolving set of needs within the local cloud landscape.
“Huawei will play a pivotal role in this industry evolution. Our reliable and secure cloud solutions have contributed to a growth of more than 110% in our customer base and allowed us to add more than 65% year-on-year (YOY) growth in partners over the past two years. Our revenue has also grown significantly by more than 80% YOY and we have grown from two to three availability zones in this region. We also service more than 5 500 government and enterprise customers around the world,” enthused Chen.
“Not only have we made significant investments to become the leaders in 5G, our first-in-class ICT infrastructure will enable us to fully support the intelligent development of industries in this new era defined by AI,” he concluded.
To request and gain access to the Africa Analysis report for yourself, head here.
[Images – Provided]
