Ep 88 - Cloud CAPEX: Not for the faint of wallet

If you’re partnering with one or more of the hyperscalers, their roadmap is your roadmap. It’s important to know where they’re steering their ships, and a great way to gain insight into this is to follow their CAPEX spending. 

For this episode, I talk with Charles Fitzgerald, managing director at Platformonomics. His annual Follow the CAPEX report tracks spending by the Big 3 hyperscalers—Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud—and includes crystal-ball insights into their strategic plans and priorities. Listen now to hear: 

• How the hyperscalers spent money in 2023 and how their paths are diverging [02:10];
• How AI strategy is affecting CAPEX spending [05:47];
• The last word on whether cloud repatriation is really a trend [11:36]; and
• Why it’s time for "clown providers" like IBM and Oracle to ante up or get out of the big top [16:59].

Links and Resources

• Read Charles Fitzgerald’s 2023 retrospective on public cloud CapEx spending and check out his Q1 2023 Repatriation IndexTM 
• Take a look at TelcoDR’s Hyperscaler Region Tracker to see where the three “BIGS” have been putting their regions.
• Check out this Bloomberg article about Amazon’s AI-focused data center investments, which includes quotes from Charles.
• Charles is all about following the money—great inspiration for a $-inspired playlist:
  • Money by Pink Floyd
  • Can't Buy Me Love by The Beatles
  • Money, Money, Money by ABBA
  • Money for Nothing by Dire Straits
  • She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer
• I can’t wait to pounce on telco execs while I’m in Diani Beach, Kenya, just like my favorite Winnie-the-Pooh character Tigger would do. 
• Check out this episode on our YouTube channel.
• You can find the transcript for this episode here.

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The Telco in 20 podcast won 2022 and 2023 MarComm Awards, a 2022 Gold Hermes Award, and was recognized as a Forrester Top 100 Channel Podcast and Feedspot Top 10 Telecom Podcast.  If you enjoy the podcast, would you leave