Microsoft Azure and AWS thrive in South Africa while Huawei Cloud struggles
The latest Google Trends data indicate that Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) thrive in South Africa, while Huawei Cloud struggles for prominence.
Huawei Cloud unveiled its South African region in November 2018 and launched its first services in the local market in 2019.
It was the first global cloud service provider to operate a South African data centre to provide cloud services in Africa.
Huawei Cloud has expanded its South African presence to three zones, becoming the first company to achieve this milestone.
Microsoft South Africa launched enterprise-grade data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town shortly after Huawei Cloud in 2020.
In 2021, Microsoft launched Azure Availability Zones in its South Africa North region, giving users additional options for high availability for their most demanding applications.
On 22 April 2021, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its Cape Town region, providing South Africans with cloud storage and computing services featuring significantly lower latency.
Theoretically, Huawei Cloud’s first-mover advantage should have given it an advantage over Microsoft Azure and AWS in the South African market.
However, this did not happen. Africa Analysis’ 2024 South Africa Cloud Computing Market Growth Forecast Report showed that it was lagging Microsoft Azure and AWS.
Analytico’s 2025 Business Technology Survey also revealed that Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) were the preferred cloud providers in South Africa.
Huawei Cloud was a distant fourth, with only around 2% of the vote. Its support has halved over the last six months, which points to reputation problems.
Huawei Cloud’s performance declined by 32% over the last twelve months, showing the company failed to create significant brand awareness among local businesses.
South African companies do not view Huawei Cloud as a viable alternative to the cloud giants Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and AWS.
The latest Google Trends data also showed that Huawei Cloud failed to match Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure in interest and awareness.
Google Trends provides access to a largely unfiltered sample of search requests made to Google. This data can be requested for a specific country, like South Africa.
It provides a window into what people are searching for and the trend of whether a company’s search activity is increasing or decreasing.
Therefore, it is a strong indicator of a company’s brand awareness and whether a company’s marketing is effective.
The Google Trends data for South Africa indicated that AWS and Azure were dominant, significantly ahead of Huawei Cloud.
BMIT’s SA IT Services Market report revealed that the South African IT services market was worth around R104.9 billion in 2024.
This value is expected to grow to around R182 billion by 2028, with cloud services being the primary driver of this growth.
Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services are well-positioned to capture a large share of this market, and Google Cloud is growing in relevance.
Huawei Cloud, in comparison, is struggling to reach the same relevance as the United States cloud giants.
Loading ...