Broadcom Survey Finds Cost Tops Public Cloud Concerns

According to Broadcom's Private Cloud Outlook 2026 report, 56% of enterprises are running or planning to run production AI inferencing on private cloud, while public cloud use for the same workloads dropped to 41%, a 15 percentage point year-over-year decline (Broadcom press release; Broadcom report; StorageReview). The report is based on a blind global survey of 1,800 senior IT leaders across eight countries, and finds that cost has overtaken security as the top public cloud concern, rising from 26% in 2025 to 31% in 2026 (Broadcom press release; StorageReview). The study also reports 97% of IT leaders believe some portion of public cloud spend is wasted, with 52% estimating waste exceeds 25% of their cloud budget (Broadcom press release; StorageReview).

The Broadcom report highlights that enterprises associate production AI with higher infrastructure costs, increased governance requirements, and greater operational complexity; respondents identified data protection and privacy (37%) and security and control (36%) as the biggest new demands AI places on IT (Broadcom report; Broadcom press release). The survey further states 83% of enterprises are considering repatriating workloads from public cloud to private cloud, and 50% have already completed some level of repatriation, with cost predictability cited by 39% as a top repatriation driver (Broadcom press release; StorageReview).

Editorial analysis: The numbers in Broadcom's report align with a broader pattern observed across enterprise infrastructure: as inference scale and dataset sensitivity grow, predictable total cost of ownership and data residency considerations gain prominence. Companies operating at production scale confront both GPU/accelerator run costs and operational overheads that can materially change the cloud-versus-private economics. Observed patterns in similar transitions show organizations often prioritize cost predictability and compliance controls when moving high-stakes AI workloads off public hyperscalers.

Editorial analysis: For practitioners, the report's finding that cost now exceeds security as the top public cloud concern is notable because it reframes decision criteria for workload placement from primarily risk-focused to economics-plus-risk. The report's claim that a majority of organizations are evaluating or executing repatriation suggests vendors, SRE teams, and procurement functions will face increased demand for interoperable private-cloud stacks, clearer cost modeling, and stronger metering/monitoring tooling. Geopolitical factors also play a role: Broadcom reports data sovereignty and residency requirements (54%) overtook jurisdiction-specific compliance (51%) as the leading geopolitical factor affecting infrastructure decisions (Broadcom press release).

Editorial analysis: Practitioners and vendors should monitor three indicators reported by Broadcom: the share of AI inference workloads placed on private cloud (the report cites 56%), the proportion of organizations reporting public-cloud waste and its estimated size (97% and 52% respectively), and the proportion actively repatriating AI workloads (83% considering, 50% done). Observers should also track vendor responses around predictable pricing models, private-cloud GPU/accelerator availability, turnkey private AI stacks, and product announcements focused on cost visibility and governance. Finally, watch regulatory and geopolitical developments tied to data residency, since Broadcom's survey marks that as a leading factor for infrastructure choice.

What happened above reflects findings as reported in Broadcom's Private Cloud Outlook 2026 and coverage in StorageReview and related press distribution (Broadcom press release; Broadcom report; StorageReview). The analysis sections are editorial and framed as industry patterns rather than statements about Broadcom's internal strategy or intentions.