Oracle’s AI-Driven Growth and Strategic Cloud Expansion in 2025

Larry Ellison, then-CEO of Oracle Corp., unveiled Oracle’s then-new database product iFS (Internet File System) at a news conference on May 16, 2000. Reuters/File

Oracle’s history begins in the late 1970s when Larry Ellison, together with two colleagues, founded a company that developed a database under a CIA contract with the codename Oracle. It was this name that would later become the company’s name and a symbol of its future influence in the data field.

After almost half a century, Oracle has evolved into one of the most influential players in the global database and enterprise software market. Now the company is moving forward into the era of artificial intelligence thanks to cloud services that meet the growing demand for power for AI projects. At the same time, OpenAI has become one of its notable partners: according to reports, Oracle could earn around $300 billion over five years for data center capacity.

To date, Oracle’s (ORCL) shares have risen more than 80% year-to-date, outpacing competitors such as Nvidia, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. This has lifted Larry Ellison, who is now the CEO and largest shareholder of the company, to the top of global billionaire rankings and confirmed the strength of Oracle’s long-term strategy.

Like Nvidia, formerly known for producing specialized chips for gaming, Oracle is now showing how traditional Silicon Valley giants have found renewed life in the AI era through cloud solutions and investments in data.

Pivotal Moment and Strategy

“This is a pivotal moment for Oracle.”

In addition, Oracle is considering transferring control over TikTok’s operations in the United States to an American company. White House officials said the framework agreement is near approval, depending on the final discussions between the U.S. president and the Chinese leader on Friday.

Although Oracle is not yet a leader in cloud services like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure, 2022 proved pivotal: demand is rising for large language models and other AI capabilities that exceed the power of traditional data centers. Close cooperation with Nvidia eases access to the necessary AI chips and reduces competition in the data-center segment.

During the latest earnings call, Safra Catz, the chief executive, noted that revenues from cloud infrastructure could rise by 77% to $18 billion in fiscal 2026 and reach approximately $144 billion by 2030. The strong growth is attributed to rising remaining performance obligations (RPO) – contractual future revenues – which in the recent quarter grew to $455 billion, and Oracle has signed four multi-billion-dollar deals with three different clients.

A Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. analyst called this a “fishing in a barrel” moment, illustrating the high demand for computing power in data centers for AI and underscoring the claim that Oracle “lives the AI dream.”

Close collaboration with OpenAI has added legitimacy to Oracle in the AI computing space. In January, the company’s founder announced Oracle’s participation in the $500‑billion Stargate initiative aimed at developing AI infrastructure in the United States. Also, looking ahead, Oracle could gain an advantage over other data-center giants, as the company does not focus its resources on building its own large language models, allowing it to lease more computing power to meet growing market needs.

Key core business – databases and software – continues to show steady growth, enabling the financing of data-center expansion. In the first quarter, capital expenditures exceeded $27 billion, and about 70% of revenue is concentrated in the company’s core units.

In the future, Oracle will depend on demand for AI computing, but the combination of cloud services, data management, and partnerships with OpenAI opens new opportunities for further growth and strengthening of its position in the global market.