Neoclouds are starting to gain significant market share, some of the coming at the expense of traditional data center infrastructure providers.

Neoclouds are defined as specialized cloud computing platforms that provide high-performance, GPU-centric infrastructure, primarily to support artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.

They tend to fall into two categories: relatively new startups, or crypto mining firms that are transitioning to being providers of high-performance AI computing services. Among the startups is CoreWeave, Lambda Labs, Crusoe, and Nebius, while the cryptominers-gone-neocloud include Applied Data Centers, IREN, and TeraWulf.

New data from Synergy Research Group shows that neocloud revenues are scaling at an unprecedented pace, reaching $9 billion in Q4—up 223% year-over-year—and exceeding $25 billion for full-year 2025. Synergy forecasts the market will approach $400 billion by 2031, representing a sustained 58% compound annual growth rate.

At that rate of growth, it will come at the expense of traditional cloud services, says John Dinsdale, chief analyst and research director at Synergy. “They are all competing for a slice of the same large pie,” he said. “Neoclouds are more specialized and focused, but in essence they are not doing anything that more traditional cloud providers could not do. And the demand is so big that there is room for both.”

The hardware isn’t all that different between a neocloud and a traditional data center. Neoclouds are GPU-oriented, but still use the same CPU, memory, and storage as a traditional cloud provider. The real difference is that GPU-oriented data centers are much more power dense and all the issues that go with that.

And since they used the same hardware, both neoclouds and traditional cloud providers are subject to the same shortage problem. Component suppliers are reporting significant shortages due to demand for AI data centers and Synergy sees neoclouds also experiencing delays just like traditional cloud providers.

“Demand is currently outstripping supply,” said Dinsmore. “It will take a while before that starts to come into more balance.”

Among neoclouds, CoreWeave stands out as the most direct challenger to traditional hyperscale cloud providers. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Anthropic represent a distinct but increasingly important category, and that is platform-centric providers offering cloud-like access to foundational models and AI development environments.

Synergy says that as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates, neoclouds are positioning themselves as focused alternatives to traditional hyperscale providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google.