Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud continue to dominate the infrastructure as a service market, capturing nearly 71 percent of the market share last year. According to a report from Gartner, the global infrastructure services market grew by 22.5 percent year over year, reaching approximately $171.8 billion in 2024, driven by the increasing adoption of generative artificial intelligence. AWS held the largest share of the market at nearly 38 percent, followed by Microsoft Azure at 24 percent and Google Cloud at 9 percent. Gartner anticipates that global cloud spending will exceed $700 billion in 2025, with the infrastructure services market alone expected to expand by 25 percent to over $210 billion.
Brian Merchant in Blood in the Machine argues that AI is propping up the US economy (for now). He outlines the significant impact of the artificial intelligence boom on the United States economy, with Microsoft recently reaching a $4 trillion valuation, becoming the second company after Nvidia to achieve this milestone. This surge in valuation is attributed to a historic level of investment in AI infrastructure, which has reportedly contributed more to economic growth in the past six months than all consumer spending combined, according to Neil Dutta, head of economic research at Renaissance Macro Research.
The New York Times covered AI’s impact on the hiring market for college graduates. Recent computer science graduates are facing significant challenges in securing job placements within the tech industry. Manasi Mishra, a graduate from Purdue University, exemplifies this struggle as she recounts her year-long job hunt that ended without a single job offer despite her degree and coding experience. Tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft are increasingly laying off employees while simultaneously adopting AI coding tools, resulting in fewer job opportunities for new graduates. The article highlights a shift in the job market where traditional pathways to tech careers are becoming less reliable, leaving graduates like Mishra questioning the once-promised lucrative job landscape of the technology sector.
A recent analysis by Goldman Sachs confirms it. The employment share for tech jobs in the United States peaked in November 2022, coinciding with the launch of ChatGPT, but has since been on a decline. The unemployment rate for workers aged 20 to 30 in tech has surged nearly 3 percentage points since early 2024, which is over four times the increase in the overall jobless rate. Goldman Sachs’ Chief Economist, Jan Hatzius, estimates that AI could replace 6 to 7 percent of all U.S. jobs within the next decade, though he projects that the overall unemployment rate will only rise by a manageable 0.5 percent as displaced workers transition to other industries.
This data from JPMorgan highlights the potential impact of artificial intelligence on the job market, particularly for white-collar knowledge workers. Economist Murat Tasci warns that as AI becomes more integrated into the economy, these workers could face a “jobless recovery,” where unemployment rates remain elevated despite overall economic growth. Currently, white-collar workers represent approximately 45 percent of total household employment in the United States. Although the overall unemployment rate is low, at around 4.2 percent, Tasci notes that job pressures on these employees could increase over time due to the ongoing decline in routine jobs, which have seen their share of the workforce drop from 55 percent to 40 percent over the past four decades. This trend suggests that the labor market may be on the verge of significant shifts, particularly affecting entry-level positions.
Why do we care?
The big three cloud players—AWS, Azure, Google—now control 71% of the market. AWS alone? Almost 38%. And AI is the rocket fuel here—pushing cloud spending toward $700 billion next year and making Microsoft a $4 trillion company. And with that much concentration for the US economy in AI, our analysis of the overall health of the market may be clouded by these few companies.
And here’s the flip side—while AI’s great for cloud providers, it’s killing off entry-level tech jobs. New grads are getting frozen out, tech unemployment for young workers is climbing fast, and economists are warning about a “jobless recovery” for white-collar roles.
For MSPs, this means two things: you’re more dependent than ever on a few cloud giants, and your future talent pool is being disrupted.. The smart play? Get ahead on AI cost control for clients, diversify your vendor expertise, and start thinking now about where your next generation of tech talent is coming from—because it won’t be the same path it used to be.