By Bob Evans
Publication Date: 2026-10-30 15:00:00
In a category jammed with world-class competitors, Google Cloud established itself as the runaway leader in the AI Wars by growing Q3 revenue 3.5X faster than Microsoft Cloud and reaching a scale of acceleration never before seen in the rarefied atmosphere of the greatest growth market the world has ever known.
Google Cloud’s extraordinary breakaway occurred despite an excellent fiscal-Q1 performance from Microsoft Cloud, whose revenue was up 30% to an eye-popping $63.9 billion, which puts it on an annualized run rate of more than $250 billion.
For the same three months ended Sept. 30, Google Cloud revenue soared 103% to $30.7 billion, and my slide rule tells me that 3.5 times 30% is 105%, and I’m willing to accept that round-up from 103%.
So, what do those numbers mean?
Well, let’s look at them first from the perspective of Microsoft supporters, some of whom will try to shout down this comparison with a few arguments:
- “It’s an…
