New Q2 data from Synergy Research Group shows that in aggregate Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, IBM, and Google control well over half of the worldwide cloud infrastructure service market. Their combined market share rose to 54% in the latest quarter compared with 46% in Q2 2014 and 41% in Q2 2013. While their year-on-year revenue growth rate averaged 84% in Q2, the rest of the market only grew by 33%. Consequently each of the big four cloud providers increased their share of the worldwide market in Q2, with AWS maintaining its clear number one ranking with a 29% market share.

With most of the major operators having now released their earnings data for Q2, Synergy estimates that quarterly cloud infrastructure service revenues (including IaaS, PaaS, and private and hybrid cloud) are now approaching $6 billion, while trailing twelve-month revenues are close to $20 billion. North America continues to account for over half of the worldwide market, followed by the EMEA and APAC regions.

“The cloud infrastructure services market is quite clearly bifurcating with a widening gap between the big four cloud providers and the rest of the service provider community,” said John Dinsdale, a chief analyst and research director at Synergy Research Group. “Developing the necessary global hyperscale data center infrastructure along with the required marketing and operations support is simply beyond the reach of all but a very small number of players. This is not going to change. The good news for the plethora of small-to-medium-sized cloud providers is that there does remain a wealth of opportunity for those that are focused on specific market niches or local geographic areas.”

This article was originally posted “Report: The Big Four Cloud Providers Are Leaving The Rest Of The Market Behind” from Cloud Strategy Magazine.