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Oracle gains as cloud infrastructure business gets AI boost

By CIOInsights

Oracle shares jumped 9% on Wednesday as investors cheered a boom in demand for the company's relatively low-cost cloud infrastructure services from artificial intelligence applications.

If the gains hold, the company will add about $30 billion to its market valuation of $340 billion as of Tuesday's market close. The shares have so far this year gained 18%.

Oracle has been ramping up its cloud infrastructure unit, which is expected to drive growth by renting out cloud computing and storage to companies. However, it will compete with Alphabet's Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.com.

Oracle's cloud infrastructure, pitched as a less-expensive option to its rivals, has attracted business from venture capital-funded generative AI startups, including Elon Musk's xAI.

"The announcement that OpenAI will now be using OCI (Oracle Cloud Infrastructure) only adds to Oracle's credibility as an AI platform and the new relationship with Google also broadens the company's distribution for its database," Evercore analyst Kirk Materne wrote in a note.