- Oracle’s assertive moves have positioned it as a formidable cloud infrastructure provider, capable of outpacing its competitors through expansive data centre construction and robust revenue growth.
- Capital expenditure for FY 2026 is expected to reach $25 billion, up 18 per cent on the FY 2025.
The recent earnings call of Oracle Corporation marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of cloud infrastructure competition, highlighted by the bold declaration from Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder and Chief Technology Officer.
Ellison asserted that Oracle intends to build more cloud infrastructure data centres than all its competitors combined, signaling the company’s aggressive expansion strategy in the cloud computing market.
“All of our OCI data centres from the smallest low-cost data centre to the largest gigawatt AI training data centre include all Oracle OCI capabilities.”
The statement, delivered amidst a report of robust financial performance for fiscal year 2025, underscores Oracle’s confidence in its cloud-centric future and its strategic positioning within this rapidly growing sector.
Fiscal year 2025 was a notable period for Oracle, characterised by substantial growth across multiple revenue streams.
The company announced a fourth-quarter revenue of $15.9 billion, reflecting an 11 per cent year-over-year increase, with cloud revenues—incorporating Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS)—reaching $6.7 billion, up 27 per cent.
Particularly impressive was the 52 per cent year-over-year growth in IaaS revenue, which grew to $3 billion in the quarter. Over the entire fiscal year, Oracle’s revenue totaled $57.4 billion, with cloud infrastructure alone contributing $10.2 billion, an increase of 51 per cent.
These figures not only validate Oracle’s cloud strategy but also illustrate the escalating demand for cloud services across global markets.
High customer commitment
Oracle’s CEO, Safra Catz, expressed optimism for even more accelerated growth in fiscal year 2026. She projected the company’s total cloud growth rate—encompassing both applications and infrastructure—to surge from 24 per cent in FY25 to over 40 per cent in FY26.
Catz said the cloud Infrastructure business is expected to see 70 per cent growth in fiscal 2026, up from 52 per cent growth in the last fiscal year, complemented by an anticipated doubling of the Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO), which signals high customer commitment.
The Texas-based company was slow to enter the cloud computing market but has experienced a sharp increase in demand for data centre infrastructure.
According to Synergy Research Group, Oracle took in roughly 3 per cent of $94 billion in global cloud infrastructure services spending, which grew 23 per cent year on year during the first three months of 2025.
“AWS and Microsoft, the two largest hyperscalers, captured the lion’s share of cloud revenues, controlling 29 per cent and 22 per cent of the market, respectively.”
Preferred platform for AI workloads
Catz emphasised that this growth trajectory is underpinned by a substantial pipeline of partnerships and contracts, many of which are noncancelable, thus securing Oracle’s revenue on a strong foundation.
The company is positioning itself as the preferred platform for AI workloads, database services, and enterprise applications, leveraging its existing and forthcoming infrastructure capabilities to meet soaring demand.
The impressive expansion of Oracle’s multi-cloud and Oracle Cloud@Customer data centres further exemplifies the company’s commitment to infrastructure growth.
Ellison highlighted a 115 per cent growth in multi-cloud database revenue from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft Azure clouds between Q3 and Q4, reflecting Oracle’s expanding footprint in hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
The company currently operates 23 multi-cloud data centres, with 47 additional centres underway for the next year. Similarly, their Oracle Cloud@Customer offering saw a 104 per cent year-over-year revenue growth, with plans to double the number of dedicated data centres from 29 to 59 in FY26.
Such investments, which translated into $21.2 billion of capital expenditures in FY25—including $9.1 billion in the latest quarter—underscore the tangible commitments Oracle is making toward building and filling out next-generation data centres, utilising customised hardware to optimise performance.
Attracting high-profile clients
Comparing with rivals, Microsoft operates more than 300 data centres in over 34 countries while Google operates 103 data centres, Amazon Web Services (AWS) operates over 125 physical data centres and Alibaba Cloud with 28 cloud regions and 86 availability zones.
Moreover, strategic contracts with major enterprises serve as testaments to Oracle’s growing influence and market penetration.
The contract with the Chinese e-commerce giant Temu, described as “gigantic” by Ellison, indicates Oracle’s expanding footprint in international markets and its capability to attract high-profile clients aiming to migrate their infrastructure to Oracle Cloud.
Additionally, Oracle’s relationship with OpenAI, although partially independent of the Stargate project, highlights the company’s role as a critical enabler of artificial intelligence workloads, further reinforcing its relevance in cutting-edge computing applications.