Operational Excellence (OPEX) Daily Briefing – Thursday, September 11, 2025: Operational Excellence in Action: Oracle’s Breakthrough in the AI-Cloud Era.

Điểm Tin Operational Excellence (OPEX) Mỗi Ngày – Thứ Năm, ngày 11/09/2025: Operational Excellence trong Hành động: Oracle và bước ngoặt kỷ nguyên AI-Cloud.

Welcome to my unique weekday article for the paid subscriber-only edition.

Operational Excellence (OPEX) Daily Briefing – issued on weekdays (Monday to Friday).

Điểm tin Operational Excellence (OPEX) hằng ngày (phát hành các ngày thứ Hai đến thứ Sáu).

This is the bilingual post in English and Vietnamese. Vietnamese is below.

Đây là bài viết song ngữ Anh-Việt. Tiếng Việt ở bên dưới.

Don’t forget the unique BizDecoded series.

English:

1. Official Announcements

Strong cloud revenue growth

In its Q1 FY2026 report, Oracle announced that revenue from its cloud segment exceeded expectations. Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS) grew by about 55% year-on-year, while Software as a Service (SaaS) also posted double-digit growth. This is Oracle’s strongest increase in years, particularly when compared to earlier periods where it was often seen as lagging behind AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Massive backlog

The biggest surprise was the Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) – contracts signed but not yet fulfilled – which reached over USD 450 billion, a 359% increase from the previous year. This figure reflects not only current revenue but also guaranteed revenue streams in the coming years. With this backlog, Oracle now stands among the global leaders in future cloud contracts.

Large-scale AI contracts

Oracle confirmed that it has signed “mega contracts” with leading AI companies. One of these is OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT, which is expected to use Oracle’s infrastructure to train and deploy its models. In addition, several other AI companies have also committed to long-term deals with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The total value of these agreements reaches into the hundreds of billions of dollars and spans multiple years.

Global infrastructure expansion

To meet soaring AI and cloud demand, Oracle announced plans to build 37 new data centers, raising its total to over 70 worldwide. Importantly, Oracle has adopted a multicloud strategy, meaning its infrastructure can integrate directly with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. This allows customers to use Oracle’s services in combination with others, providing more flexibility and faster global expansion.

Market reaction

Following the report, Oracle’s stock price surged by more than 30% in a single session, the sharpest increase in decades. The company’s market capitalization approached USD 1 trillion, placing Oracle among the most powerful global technology giants.

Meanwhile, Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder and chairman, saw his net worth soar, making him one of the richest individuals in the world. This reflects the market’s high confidence in Oracle’s AI-cloud strategy.

Forecast and vision

Oracle forecasts revenue from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) will reach USD 18 billion in the current fiscal year, up 77% from the previous year. In the longer term, within the next 4–5 years, cloud revenue could reach USD 144 billion if the backlog is delivered as planned.

At the same time, Oracle introduced Oracle AI Database, a product that enables customers to directly integrate AI models into their Oracle databases to analyze and exploit business data more effectively.

2. OPEX Analysis

An analysis through the lens of Operational Excellence (OPEX).

These figures are factual, but to understand why Oracle achieved this breakthrough, and what lessons other businesses can learn, we can apply Operational Excellence (OPEX) tools. Below are five frameworks, with emphasis on consistency, discipline, and long-term pursuit of goals.