Member Article

President Trump could cost US cloud computing providers more than $10 billion by 2020

The US cloud computing industry stands to lose more than $10 billion by 2020 as a result of President Trump’s increasingly shaky reputation on data privacy, according to the latest research from secure data centre experts Artmotion.

Growth for US cloud computing providers is already thought to be slowing. Although IDC’s latest Worldwide Public Cloud Services Spending Guide suggests that the US will generate more than 60% of total worldwide cloud revenues to 2020, the country is expected to experience the slowest growth rate of the eight regions in the analysis.

However, this forecast slowdown does not factor in the effect that President Trump’s controversial record on data privacy has had on business confidence in the US as a data hosting location. This coincides with a rapid increase in people expressing unfavourable opinions about the US more generally. In fact, the latest study from the the Pew Research Center highlights that just 22% of people have confidence in President Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs.

As a result of this growing uncertainty, Artmotion’s new analysis suggests that US cloud providers will experience further slowing of growth in the next three years – creating estimated losses of $10.1 billion for the industry between 2017-2020.

Mateo Meier, CEO of Artmotion, commented: “In a market that is still expected to grow significantly in the next few years, it is vital that US service providers continue to attract new customers in order to retain market share. Despite the US’s current dominance of the global cloud computing market, there is no certainty that the status quo will be maintained. Perhaps the key reason for US cloud providers to be fearful is that this isn’t the first time we’ve been here.

“Edward Snowden’s revelations about PRISM and the NSA’s mass surveillance techniques were hugely damaging to US cloud companies. It also encouraged many businesses to completely rethink their data strategies, rather than continuing to trust that US cloud providers would guarantee the levels of data security and privacy they need. The impact that President Trump could have needs to be understood in that context.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ben Smith .