Amazon, Microsoft and Google: Rivals That Carry the DatabaseNarrow moat

Oracle (ORCL) — moat facet

Oracle put its database inside Amazon, Microsoft and Google so customers could leave Oracle's cloud without leaving Oracle.

Amazon, Microsoft and Google are Oracle's main rivals for infrastructure and also its distributors for the database. In December 2025 Oracle said it was more than halfway through building 72 Oracle Multicloud datacenters embedded throughout the Amazon, Google and Microsoft clouds1. A customer on Azure or AWS can run an Oracle database there, on Oracle's systems, and keep paying Oracle.

Oracle database inside rival cloudsDatacenters planned in rival clouds72Multicloud database growth, Q2 FY2026817%AI database growth, Q4 FY2026404%Oracle Q2 and Q4 FY2026 results releases
A toll booth inside the rivals.

The arrangement is growing fast from a small base. Oracle reported its multicloud database business up 1,529% in the first quarter of fiscal 20262, up 817% in the second3 and its multicloud AI database up 404% in the fourth4. It does not disclose the revenue.

The logic is to keep the database customer even when the rest of the customer's computing moves elsewhere. Oracle's co-chief executive said the company believes customers should be able to run their Oracle databases in any cloud they choose5. It is a way of accepting that most enterprise computing runs on other companies' clouds and charging a toll at the database.

The cost is stated in Oracle's own filing. OCI's multicloud services work with competitors' products, and the annual report says this strategy "could lead our customers to migrate away" from Oracle's cloud offerings6. Once the database sits next to a rival's own database service, the rival has every chance to bid for it.

Oracle presents this as a principle rather than a concession. Its co-chief executive said the company is committed to Cloud Neutrality because customers should be able to run their Oracle databases in any cloud they choose7. Oracle calls the multicloud database its fastest-growing business8. Principles are easier to hold when they are also the only realistic way to keep customers who have already moved the rest of their computing.

This is a truce, not a victory. Software support will say whom it favours: if it holds near $4.9 billion a quarter while multicloud grows, the toll works; if support falls as multicloud grows, Oracle is escorting its customers to the exit.

Moat trajectory: Widening

Multicloud database growing hundreds of percent a year.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Multicloud database growth, latest disclosed quarter
404% (Q4 FY2026)

How fast the database is moving into rivals' clouds; growth alongside falling support would mean the door swings outward.

Source: Oracle Q4 FY2026 results release ↗
References
  1. ReportedIn December 2025 Oracle said it was more than halfway through building 72 Oracle Multicloud datacenters embedded throughout the Amazon, Google and Microsoft clouds.
    Oracle second-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - multicloud datacenters, regions, chip neutrality and new commitments from Meta and NVIDIA. — Q2 FY2026 · publ. 10 December 2025 · source ↗
  2. ReportedOracle reported its multicloud database business up 1,529% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, up 817% in the second and its multicloud AI database up 404% in the fourth.
    Oracle first-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - the OCI revenue plan and four multi-billion-dollar contracts. — Q1 FY2026 · publ. 9 September 2025 · source ↗
  3. ReportedOracle reported its multicloud database business up 1,529% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, up 817% in the second and its multicloud AI database up 404% in the fourth.
    Oracle second-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - multicloud datacenters, regions, chip neutrality and new commitments from Meta and NVIDIA. — Q2 FY2026 · publ. 10 December 2025 · source ↗
  4. ReportedOracle reported its multicloud database business up 1,529% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, up 817% in the second and its multicloud AI database up 404% in the fourth.
    Oracle fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - financing, $75 billion of prepaid and customer-supplied hardware, Oracle Health and multicloud. — FY2026 · publ. 10 June 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedOracle's co-chief executive said the company believes customers should be able to run their Oracle databases in any cloud they choose.
    Oracle second-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - multicloud datacenters, regions, chip neutrality and new commitments from Meta and NVIDIA. — Q2 FY2026 · publ. 10 December 2025 · source ↗
  6. ReportedOCI's multicloud services work with competitors' products, and the annual report says this strategy "could lead our customers to migrate away" from Oracle's cloud offerings.
    Oracle Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal 2026 (year ended 31 May 2026) - Item 1A risk factors: customer concentration and credit, multicloud, lease terms, credit ratings, export rules. — FY2026 · publ. 22 June 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedIts co-chief executive said the company is committed to Cloud Neutrality because customers should be able to run their Oracle databases in any cloud they choose.
    Oracle second-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - multicloud datacenters, regions, chip neutrality and new commitments from Meta and NVIDIA. — Q2 FY2026 · publ. 10 December 2025 · source ↗
  8. ReportedOracle calls the multicloud database its fastest-growing business.
    Oracle second-quarter fiscal 2026 results release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - multicloud datacenters, regions, chip neutrality and new commitments from Meta and NVIDIA. — Q2 FY2026 · publ. 10 December 2025 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 25, 2026