3 Major Cloud Providers Converge on Core Compute and Storage Services

12 articles · Updated · InfoWorld · May 26

Core enterprise cloud use still centers on compute and storage, where the three biggest providers now offer broadly comparable virtual machines, operating system support, elasticity and object, block and file storage.
For most mainstream workloads, the article argues, differences in pricing, performance and packaging are narrower than vendor marketing suggests, putting the focus on fit, economics, governance and operational alignment.
Proprietary services remain the main area of real separation—such as cloud-specific databases, analytics, serverless tools and AI platforms—which providers use to raise margins and deepen customer lock-in.
AI does not overturn that convergence; it increases demand for commodity foundations including scalable compute, GPU access, durable storage, data pipelines and network capacity.
The broader takeaway is that cloud maturity has shifted many buying decisions away from feature theater toward pragmatic workload matching, giving enterprises more real choice among hyperscalers.

As core cloud services become commodities, are specialized AI platforms the only real competitive advantage left for providers?

If cloud giants are so similar, why is vendor lock-in a growing concern for nearly 90% of enterprises?

With core tech converging, will data sovereignty laws, not features, dictate the future of the global cloud market?