China cloud market turns to compliance & resilience
Thu, 9th Jul 2026 (Today)
Forrester has published new research on China's enterprise cloud market, finding the sector has entered a more risk-aware phase.
The market has moved beyond basic adoption into a stage defined by optimisation, governance and resilience. The research shows that 75% of Chinese enterprise cloud decision-makers now have more than six years of public cloud experience.
That longer operating history is shifting corporate priorities. Instead of focusing mainly on infrastructure migration, enterprises are concentrating on modernisation, digital services, analytics and artificial intelligence.
Hybrid cloud has also become the dominant model, with 92% of decision-makers using hybrid strategies. The approach reflects a preference for combining public cloud services with private environments.
Companies are using this architecture to address performance concerns, regulatory demands and the handling of sensitive data. It is also becoming more important as they build AI workloads that require tighter control over proprietary data and intellectual property.
Compliance pressure
Regulation is playing a more direct role in technical decisions. Frameworks including the Personal Information Protection Law, the Data Security Law and MLPS 2.0 are influencing both vendor selection and cloud system design.
This is driving demand for localised cloud environments and sovereign cloud models that keep sensitive workloads in controlled settings. In this market, compliance is increasingly treated not as a hurdle but as a design requirement from the outset.
AI is also emerging as a key dividing line between providers. The study found that generative AI and agentic AI are reshaping the role of cloud infrastructure as enterprises use cloud platforms for model training, inference and deployment.
That shift is intensifying competition among vendors, which are expanding AI-related services, building developer ecosystems and tailoring products for specific industries. Cloud buying decisions are increasingly tied to how well providers can support AI use cases while meeting governance requirements.
Risk focus
Risk management has become a central part of cloud planning. The research found that Chinese enterprises are paying closer attention to vendor dependency, cost visibility, geopolitical concerns and operational continuity.
About 74% of cloud decision-makers said they are actively addressing workload resilience. Hybrid and multicloud approaches are being used partly to reduce concentration risk and improve continuity if systems or suppliers are disrupted.
The report presents this shift as evidence of a more disciplined stage in the market's development. Cloud strategy is no longer centred only on access to computing resources, but on balancing innovation with control, regulatory compliance and the ability to recover from shocks.
Sector demand
The research also identifies rising demand for industry-specific cloud services. Companies in sectors including financial services, automotive and retail are adopting platforms designed around sector rules, operational processes and specialist requirements.
These industry-focused offerings are intended to reduce the need for customer customisation while aligning cloud tools more closely with business processes. Enterprises are also increasingly working with providers to tailor cloud services to sector needs.
Charlie Dai, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, said the research reflects a broader shift in the market. "China's cloud market is entering a more complex and strategic phase, where compliance, innovation, and industry specialization intersect. Organisations must move beyond basic cloud adoption to build resilient, compliant, and AI-native architectures. Those that align cloud strategies with regulatory realities while investing in differentiated capabilities will be best positioned to unlock long-term value and competitive advantage."
The findings portray a cloud market in China where maturity is no longer defined by the pace of migration alone, but by enterprises' ability to manage regulation, resilience and AI demands in a more complex operating environment. Hybrid deployment, sovereign requirements and sector-specific design are now shaping how companies choose providers and structure their technology estates.