The winds are shifting in enterprise IT, and public cloud may no longer be the automatic destination. A new global survey of 1,800 senior IT leaders suggests that private cloud—once seen as a transitional step—is regaining ground as a primary platform for modernization. More than half of those surveyed by the ‘Private Cloud Outlook 2025’ report now place private cloud migration as their number-one infrastructure priority over the next three years.
This renewed emphasis is a response to increased concerns over the volatility of the public cloud. Public clouds offer agility, but most businesses are finding their costs spiraling out of control and still fear security. Almost 94% of the respondents admitted to overspending on unused cloud services, and almost half admitted to losing more than 25% of their cloud expenditure on inefficiencies.
In the meantime, the rise of generative AI is revealing an even more fundamental threat. Fifty-five percent of IT leaders said they would rather run AI model development on on-premises private cloud foundations for greater control over performance and privacy. In fact, 49% said data privacy was the biggest barrier to broader use of AI tools.
It’s not just AI that’s powering the shift. Compliance-heavy verticals are leading the way, with 92% having more confidence in private cloud for processing sensitive workloads. But even as demand for private environment grows, there are barriers. Internal talent gaps and siloed businesses are hindering adoption, although some businesses are pushing back by restructuring around central platform teams.
Broadcom’s Prashanth Shenoy, in response to the report, spoke of the emergence of hybrid strategies for subtlety, and not for convenience. “What we’re seeing is deliberate architecture—not just lift-and-shift deployments,” he said.
The message is clear: cloud repatriation is no longer theoretical. Enterprises are recalibrating, not just reacting. And for many, the private cloud is no longer a stopgap. It’s the strategy.
