Enterprise

Amazon reportedly plans to end its reliance on Oracle — but Oracle says Amazon bought $60 million of its tech just a year ago

By Becky Peterson
Larry Ellison Oracle Getty
Oracle chairman Larry Ellison hasn't been shy about his rivalry with Amazon. Kimberly White/Getty Images
Read in app
  • Amazon, a longtime customer and competitor of Oracle, plans to stop using Oracle's technology entirely by 2020, according to CNBC.
  • Amazon has slowly moved off of Oracle's databases and onto its own Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure over the last few years, according to the report.
  • But Oracle doesn't think Amazon can make it on its own. In a statement shared with Business Insider, Oracle said that Amazon bought $60 million in software just one year ago — and questioned whether Amazon's technology was good enough to fully replace Oracle. 

Despite the public displays of animosity between them, Amazon actually buys plenty of technology from database vendor Oracle.  But that could change soon, according to a CNBC report published Wednesday. 

Amazon, the leader in cloud storage and services, plans to move off of Oracle databases entirely by 2020, according to CNBC. The company reportedly started moving off Oracle's databases four to five years ago over concerns about Oracle's ability to scale — though some of its shipping business still uses Oracle's technology.

Oracle, however, seem to think it's a bluff. According to an Oracle representative, Amazon spent $60 million on Oracle databases and data analytics software around a year ago. Indeed, "over the years Amazon has spent hundreds of million of dollars on Oracle technology to run their business," says the spokesperson. 

"We don’t believe that Amazon Web Services has any database technology that comes close to the capabilities of the Oracle database. That’s why our biggest competitors like Salesforce.com, SAP, and Amazon continue to rely on the Oracle database to run their business,” she said. 

The conflict between Amazon and Oracle has intensified in recent years: Amazon Web Services, the largest player in the cloud market, is attacking Oracle's core business with tools designed to steal customers away. Oracle, for its part, has made the cloud a big strategic focus for the company, as it works to get a leg up on Amazon.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Read next

极速168赛车官方网站图片

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

极速168赛车官方网站图片

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

极速168赛车官方网站图片

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

极速168赛车官方网站图片

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know

Becky Peterson Headshot
Becky Peterson
Becky Peterson was formerly a tech features correspondent focused on long-form profiles and investigations into the most interesting people and companies at the intersection of technology and finance.She's broken news on major tech stories including Palantir's work on Project Maven, Peter Thiel's $18 million estate in Miami (which was once featured on MTV's 'The Real World'), Jeffrey Epstein's tour of SpaceX, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's insistence that employees take "the D."Previously, she covered enterprise tech and tech investment banking with a focus on M&A, IPO and venture capital deals in San Francisco. She graduated from New York University with a master's degree in media, culture and communication with an emphasis on technology and society. ExpertiseSilicon Valley, Venture Capital, Investment Banking, Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine MaxwellPopular articlesInside the turmoil at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where employees say divorce, Epstein, and vaccines have left some staffers polishing their résumésThe secret life of Ian Osborne, the shadowy 38-year-old cofounder of Chamath Palihapitiya's SPAC who has built the ultimate black book of billionairesSilicon Valley VCs are at war with the 'far left radicals' running CaliforniaInside the life of Ghislaine Maxwell's secret husband, a once-high-flying tech entrepreneur backed by Eric Schmidt who is now a central figure in one of the country's most high-profile legal casesRent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman, one of the most successful female founders, is fighting to save her companyJeffrey Epstein set Elon Musk's brother up with a girlfriend in effort to get close to the Tesla founder, sources sayA drunken late-night assault allegation has roiled the secretive world of Mark Zuckerberg's private family office. Personal aides are speaking out about claims that household staff endured sexual harassment and racism from their colleagues.
HOME Subscribe