Microsoft, AWS and Oracle: Partners Listed as RivalsNarrow moat

IBM (IBM) — moat facet

IBM's biggest rivals are the clouds its software runs on, which makes them both its distribution and its competition.

IBM's most important competitors are also its partners, and its annual report says so in two adjacent lists. Its strategic partners include "Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Oracle, Palo Alto Networks, Salesforce, Samsung Electronics and SAP"1. Its software competitors include Alphabet (Google), Amazon, BMC, Broadcom, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP and Splunk, a Cisco company2.

IBM Software segment revenue ($M)23,629202225,011202327,085202429,9622025IBM 2024 and 2025 Annual Reports, current segment basis
Growing alongside the clouds it partners with.

This is a different kind of rivalry from a head-to-head fight. IBM does not depend on owning the cloud; Red Hat and its software run on the clouds of Amazon, Microsoft and Google. The partner brings the infrastructure and the customer relationship; IBM brings software the customer already uses. Microsoft's and Oracle's own pages in this app describe how each of them sees the same market; this page is about what it means for IBM.

The arrangement has worked so far. IBM's Software segment grew 10.6% in 2025 to $29,962 million3, and Hybrid Cloud, the Red Hat category, grew 12.9%4. The filing's own phrase is that partners in some areas "may be competitors in other areas"5.

The weakness is that the partners own the storefront. They decide how IBM's products appear to their customers and they sell competing databases, automation and container tools of their own. Each partnership is renegotiated on terms the larger party sets.

The partner list also includes companies that compete with IBM in only one segment. Samsung Electronics is a strategic partner6, and IBM's infrastructure competitors include Intel7, which designs the processors in many of the servers clients bought in June. IBM's position is that of a supplier embedded in every large vendor's ecosystem, competing with each where their products overlap and relying on each where they do not.

The number that shows which way it is going is Software growth. If it falls below the mid-single digits outside a mainframe trough, the partners' own products would be taking the spending IBM's portfolio was built to capture.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Software +10.6% in 2025; +5.1% in Q2 2026.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Software segment revenue growth, full year
+10.6% to $29,962M (FY2025)

IBM's software against partners who also compete; growth falling below the mid-single digits outside a mainframe trough would mean the clouds' own products are winning.

Source: IBM 2025 Annual Report ↗
References
  1. ReportedIts strategic partners include "Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Oracle, Palo Alto Networks, Salesforce, Samsung Electronics and SAP".
    IBM Form 10-K for 2025 - Item 1 business, competitors and strategic partners, Item 1A risk factors, executive officers. — FY2025 · publ. 24 February 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedIts software competitors include Alphabet (Google), Amazon, BMC, Broadcom, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP and Splunk, a Cisco company.
    IBM Form 10-K for 2025 - Item 1 business, competitors and strategic partners, Item 1A risk factors, executive officers. — FY2025 · publ. 24 February 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedIBM's Software segment grew 10.6% in 2025 to $29,962 million, and Hybrid Cloud, the Red Hat category, grew 12.9%.
    IBM 2025 Annual Report (Form 10-K exhibit) - management discussion, consolidated financial statements and notes - management discussion of the Software segment: Hybrid Cloud, Automation, Data, Transaction Processing and ARR. — FY2025 · publ. 24 February 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedIBM's Software segment grew 10.6% in 2025 to $29,962 million, and Hybrid Cloud, the Red Hat category, grew 12.9%.
    IBM 2025 Annual Report (Form 10-K exhibit) - management discussion, consolidated financial statements and notes - management discussion of the Software segment: Hybrid Cloud, Automation, Data, Transaction Processing and ARR. — FY2025 · publ. 24 February 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe filing's own phrase is that partners in some areas "may be competitors in other areas".
    IBM Form 10-K for 2025 - Item 1 business, competitors and strategic partners, Item 1A risk factors, executive officers. — FY2025 · publ. 24 February 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedSamsung Electronics is a strategic partner, and IBM's infrastructure competitors include Intel, which designs the processors in many of the servers clients bought in June.
    IBM Form 10-K for 2025 - Item 1 business, competitors and strategic partners, Item 1A risk factors, executive officers. — FY2025 · publ. 24 February 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedSamsung Electronics is a strategic partner, and IBM's infrastructure competitors include Intel, which designs the processors in many of the servers clients bought in June.
    IBM Form 10-K for 2025 - Item 1 business, competitors and strategic partners, Item 1A risk factors, executive officers. — FY2025 · publ. 24 February 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 28, 2026