알파벳, 아마존, 마이크로소프트: 최고의 클라우드 컴퓨팅 주식은 무엇인가?
Alphabet vs. Amazon vs. Microsoft: Which Is the Best Cloud Computing Stock to Buy Today?
AI 인프라 투자 테마가 선도 기업들에 대해 중립적인 긍정적 편향을 제공합니다.
핵심 요약
아마존, 마이크로소프트, 알파벳은 AI 인프라 투자를 중심으로 클라우드 시장에서 경쟁하고 있습니다.
본 분석은 세 거대 클라우드 기업의 현재 상황과 미래 잠재력을 데이터 기반으로 평가합니다. 첫째, 아마존은 AWS라는 강력한 인프라 기반과 자체 AI 칩 사업을 통해 물리적 인프라와 하드웨어 통합에서 독보적인 우위를 점하고 있습니다. AWS의 1분기 매출이 전년 대비 28% 성장한 것은 클라우드 인프라 수요가 강력함을 의미하며, 이는 AI 가속기 시장에서 경쟁 우위를 제공합니다. 둘째, 마이크로소프트는 Azure를 통해 기존 엔터프라이즈 소프트웨어 고객층에 클라우드 서비스를 성공적으로 통합하며 안정적이고 지속적인 성장을 달성했습니다. Azure가 11분기 연속 30% 이상 성장했다는 사실은 클라우드 인프라가 단순한 서비스 제공을 넘어 기업의 운영 시스템에 필수적인 소프트웨어 솔루션으로 자리 잡았음을 보여줍니다. 셋째, 알파벳은 검색 및 광고라는 강력한 시장 지배력을 기반으로 클라우드 서비스를 확장하며 거대한 생태계를 구축하고 있습니다. 이 세 기업의 경쟁은 단순히 클라우드 서비스의 규모를 넘어, AI 기술을 얼마나 효율적으로 인프라에 통합하고, 이를 통해 비용 효율성과 혁신을 창출하는지에 달려 있습니다. 아마존의 경우, 현재 P/E가 25배 미만이라는 점은 시장이 아직 AWS의 AI 관련 성장 잠재력을 충분히 가격에 반영하지 않았을 가능성을 시사합니다. 따라서 투자자는 각 기업이 AI 인프라 투자에서 달성하는 비용 효율성과 시장 침투 속도를 중심으로 미래 성과를 예측해야 합니다. 향후 클라우드 시장은 AI 기술의 발전 속도와 각 기업의 하드웨어 및 소프트웨어 통합 능력에 따라 경쟁 구도가 재편될 것으로 전망됩니다. 따라서 장기적인 관점에서 각 기업의 AI 전략 실행력과 시장 지배력 유지를 면밀히 분석하는 것이 중요합니다. 투자 결정은 이러한 구조적 우위와 AI 경쟁의 동태적 변화를 고려하여 신중하게 이루어져야 합니다.
Original Article
Alphabet vs. Amazon vs. Microsoft: Which Is the Best Cloud Computing Stock to Buy Today?
The stocks of the big three cloud computing companies, Amazon ( AMZN 0.73% ) , Microsoft ( MSFT +0.15% ) , and Alphabet ( GOOGL 0.50% ) ( GOOG 0.29% ) , have had mixed performances in 2026 thus far. Alphabet has led the way with about a 13% return, while Amazon is up nearly 7%, and Microsoft has fallen 20%.
All three companies are seeing strong cloud computing growth and are investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure to capture the opportunity ahead of them.
Let's dig into each stock to see which is the best to buy right now.
Amazon is the largest cloud provider by market share, having created the infrastructure-as-a-service concept more than 20 years ago with the launch of Amazon Web Services (AWS).
While the company is best known for its e-commerce operations, AWS is actually its most profitable segment. While AWS revenue growth has trailed its two main competitors, it has started to accelerate, increasing 28% year over year in the first quarter. With partnerships in place with Anthropic and, more recently, OpenAI, that revenue-growth acceleration should continue this year.
The company also has a large custom-chip business, including both AI accelerators and central processing units (CPUs). This is an over $20 billion run-rate business or $50 billion when including internal use. It also helps give it a cost advantage by lowering inference costs.
Amazon's e-commerce business is also performing well and currently experiencing a lot of operating leverage due to its investments in robotics and AI. The stock currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of under 25 times fiscal 2027 estimates.
Microsoft's Azure cloud computing unit, a big growth driver for the enterprise software giant, has been growing its revenue by 30% or more for 11 straight quarters. This included last quarter, its fiscal Q3, when revenue soared 40% (39% in constant currencies).
Revenue growth is driven by strong demand for compute and AI services, and Microsoft has consistently said demand continues to outstrip supply. Meanwhile, Microsoft has some huge future commitments from OpenAI, and to a lesser extent Anthropic, that should continue to fuel growth in the coming years.
Why the stock has struggled, though, is that it has been behind with its own tech. It has largely relied on OpenAI's AI models and is behind in developing custom AI chips, instead relying on pricier Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs). And while Microsoft's core software business has been performing well, led by increasing adoption of its Copilot AI assistants, there remains an underlying fear in the market that AI will disrupt the software industry.
On its end, Microsoft is trying to catch up with its own tech, both with AI models and chips, and has started to replace some OpenAI models with its own internally developed ones. The stock currently trades at a forward P/E of 17 times fiscal 2027 analyst estimates, and it owns a 27% stake in OpenAI.
Alphabet has the smallest cloud computing unit of the big three cloud providers, but the company also has some of the biggest advantages. It is the most complete AI player, with both a world-class foundational AI model in Gemini and top-notch AI chips with its tensor processing units (TPUs).
Alphabet's TPUs were developed more than a decade ago and are generally considered best in class among custom AI chips, as the company has optimized its entire ecosystem around them. In fact, Anthropic has placed large orders for these chips, creating another nice high-margin revenue stream. These chips also allow Alphabet to train its models and run inference at a much lower cost than competitors that rely on Nvidia GPUs.
Overall, Google Cloud saw the strongest growth of the big three cloud providers, as revenue surged 63% last quarter. At the same time, Alphabet has incorporated its Gemini model throughout its entire product ecosystem, including Google Search, to help drive growth. Its global ad network then helps it monetize its commercial AI endeavors better than competitors.
The stock currently trades at 24 times 2027 analyst estimates, and it also has a significant opportunity outside of AI in its Waymo robotaxi business.
I think all three of the big three cloud computing providers look interesting at current levels. However, I prefer Amazon and Alphabet given their tech advantages over Microsoft.
If I could only pick one right now, I'd choose Amazon, as it trades at a significant discount to its retail peers despite the huge operating leverage it is seeing, which is driving strong profitability growth in its e-commerce segment. Meanwhile, its cloud business is seeing accelerating revenue growth, which could help the stock break out. That said, I personally own both Amazon and Alphabet and think they are great long-term stocks.