By 2023, the global market for cloud infrastructure had consolidated into a three-horse race. As of Q4 2022, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google collectively accounted for 66% of the global market. AWS had a market share of 33%, Microsoft Azure had 23%, and Google Cloud had 11%. The global market for cloud services, valued at over $550 billion in 2023, was projected to grow at an annual rate of 15-20%, reaching over 2 billion by 2030. Though the growing demand for cloud services was a reassuring tailwind for Microsoft, the emergence of multicloud approaches in enterprise, the relentless price-pressure from competitors, and the threat of further commodification presented a wholly new set of challenges for Microsoft Azure. As the opportunities and threats of the multicloud future became clearer, Microsoft needed a multicloud strategy.