On-prem comeback

Topic

A theory proposed by Chamath Palihapitiya that enterprises will shift from cloud-based AI services back to on-premise infrastructure to maintain control over proprietary data and ensure security.


First Mentioned

2/14/2026, 3:56:14 AM

Last Updated

2/14/2026, 4:12:26 AM

Research Retrieved

2/14/2026, 4:12:26 AM

Summary

The 'On-prem comeback,' also referred to as 'de-clouding' or 'cloud repatriation,' is a strategic shift in enterprise technology where organizations move workloads from public cloud environments back to local data centers or private infrastructure. This trend is primarily driven by the rapid acceleration of AI, which has introduced significant concerns regarding data security and the high costs associated with third-party AI APIs, such as those provided by OpenAI. Prominent tech figures like Chamath Palihapitiya have identified this movement as a direct challenge to the long-standing 'cloud-first' narrative promoted by major providers like AWS and GCP. Beyond security, the shift is motivated by a desire for greater control over hardware, predictable operational expenses (OPEX), and the financial advantage of owning physical assets that can be 'sweated' after they are fully paid for, contrasting with the perpetual subscription models of the cloud.

Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
  • Key Proponents

    Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sachs

  • Economic Impact

    Shift from perpetual OPEX to hardware ownership; example includes 37signals saving $7 million annually

  • Primary Drivers

    Data security in AI, high cost of AI APIs (Token budgets), and desire for infrastructure control

  • Alternative Names

    De-clouding, Cloud Repatriation, Privatization of Cloud

  • Targeted Cloud Providers

    AWS (Amazon Web Services), GCP (Google Cloud Platform)

Timeline
  • Chamath Palihapitiya introduces the concept of an On-prem comeback during the All-In Podcast, citing data security concerns in AI. (Source: All-In Podcast)

    2024-02-11

  • Broadcom releases its Private Cloud Outlook report, stating 53% of senior IT decision-makers prioritize building new workloads in private cloud environments. (Source: TechTarget)

    2025-05-01

  • Industry analysis indicates that 73% of enterprises are planning to repatriate some workloads back on-premises by 2025. (Source: Medium)

    2025-09-01

  • Technical guides emerge highlighting the 'On-Premises vs Cloud' debate as a critical decision point for organizations heading into 2026. (Source: MangoLassi)

    2025-12-04

  • Projected rise of hybrid cloud models where sensitive workloads remain on-prem while compute-heavy operations use public cloud. (Source: CloudKeeper)

    2026-01-01

Prem (director)

Kiran Kumar (born 22 October 1976), known by his screen name Prem, is an Indian film director in Kannada cinema.

Web Search Results
  • On-Prem Is Calling Again: Why De-Clouding Is Making a Comeback

    Portainer’s user-friendly portal brings the same sort of click-and-run convenience you might be used to in the cloud, only you’re running it in your own data center. You can orchestrate, monitor, and update your containerized applications from one place, whether that place is a local server in the office basement or a private rack in a co-location facility. You still retain total ownership of your hardware, your data, and your destiny (well, at least from an IT perspective). [...] That sense of ownership is part of the appeal: with de-clouding, you aren’t locked into a particular vendor’s roadmap or pricing strategy. If you need to upgrade storage or pivot to a new container orchestrator you’re free to do so without migrating to a different proprietary cloud service. And if your CFO wants to see how you’re trimming costs you can point straight to the hardware that’s already bought and paid for instead of handing over an invoice for monthly cloud compute charges that fluctuate like the weather. [...] A big part of the answer is cost. Cloud economics may look enticing at first—no buying or racking servers, no paying for power or cooling, and no hardware maintenance headaches. But that also means there’s no physical asset to “sweat.” When you own hardware there comes a day when it’s paid off, and every extra cycle you squeeze out feels like a bonus. In the cloud you’re locked into a perpetual OPEX model. If you need to store more data or spin up a few extra nodes you’ll pay for them every single month, with none of the upside that comes from over-provisioning or data deduplication. The cloud providers make their tidy margin off those efficiencies—meanwhile, your bill happily marches north.

  • The Death of the Cloud? Why Developers Are Moving Back On-Prem

    ### The Great Cloud Exodus Recent surveys indicate that 73% of enterprises are planning to bring some workloads back on-premises by 2025. Companies like 37signals famously left the cloud, saving over $7 million annually. But this isn’t just about cost , it’s about control, performance, and the realization that cloud isn’t always the silver bullet we thought it was. ### Cost Reality Check The cloud’s pay-as-you-go model seems attractive until you’re paying enterprise rates for sustained workloads. Consider this real-world comparison: [...] Sitemap Open in app Sign in Sign in Member-only story # The Death of the Cloud? Why Developers Are Moving Back On-Prem The Latency Gambler 4 min readSep 1, 2025 The pendulum is swinging back. After a decade of “cloud-first” evangelism, a growing number of companies are quietly repatriating their workloads to on-premises infrastructure. What started as whispers in engineering slack channels has become a movement that’s reshaping how we think about infrastructure strategy. ### The Great Cloud Exodus [...] ``` 81 Claus Østby Nielsen Sep 1, 2025 ``` Your comparison of cloud/onprem costs are not fair as onprem requires a lot more diverse senior skills. An intermediate cloud engineer can spin up an infrastructure in a few hours which would require several specialist teams weeks to configure. This overhead will also need to be paid ``` 60 Nick Maiorano Sep 7, 2025 ``` Sigh. I don't where to start with this article. You're following a predictable, tired formula of writing tech articles on Medium: write a clickbait title, use bad comparisons to justify clickbait title, then walk back the clickbait title to try to… ``` 65 ## More from The Latency Gambler The Latency Gambler ## An Engineer Died at Atlassian and the Silence That Followed Should Terrify Every Tech Worker

  • A Practical Guide to Choosing Between On-Prem and Cloud in 2026

    Image 3: SM_On-Premise vs Cloud@2x.png The #OnPremises vs Cloud debate is more nuanced than it appears, and it’s becoming far more acute as we head into 2026. Rising cloud costs, tightening regulations, funding volatility, and growing AI and analytics demands are forcing organizations to re-evaluate long-standing assumptions. Our latest article by Ivan Ischenko for StarWind explains both models clearly: how they work, their strengths, key differences, and where each one fits best. Read more here: 1 Reply Last replyReplyQuote[]( []( []( []( []( 1 / 1 []( []( 1 / 1 First post Last post Go to my next post Looks like your connection to MangoLassi was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect. [...] A Practical Guide to Choosing Between On-Prem and Cloud in 2026 | MangoLassi Recent Categories Tags Popular Users Groups Register Login Image 1: ML Recent Categories Tags Popular Users Groups Register Login A Practical Guide to Choosing Between On-Prem and Cloud in 2026 Scheduled Pinned Locked MovedStarwind starwindcloudaicloud computinghybrid cloudinfrastructure 1 Posts 1 Posters 668 Views []( Loading More Posts Oldest to Newest Newest to Oldest Most Votes Reply Reply as topic Log in to reply This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it. []( 2: OksanaO Oksanalast edited by Dec 4, 2025, 3:42 PM Image 3: SM_On-Premise vs Cloud@2x.png

  • 5 cloud trends to watch for in 2026 - TechTarget

    ## Private and sovereign clouds on the rise From in-house data centers to public cloud, companies have come full circle back to the idea of directly controlling their own IT assets. The new wrinkle is that this privatization is occurring in the cloud rather than in the corporate data center. Given the number of public cloud security breaches, organizations are tightening up by launching their own private clouds that IT runs on a dedicated, non-shared platform. In Broadcom's May 2025 Private Cloud Outlook report, 53% of senior IT decision-makers cited building new workloads in private cloud environments as a top three-year priority. [...] By: Paul Crocetti ##### How APAC telcos are reclaiming relevance with AI-ready infrastructure ##### UAE Sovereign Launchpad begins nationwide roll-out with support from e& and AWS By: Andrea Benito ##### Morse Micro secures $59m funding to lead the next era of IoT By: Joe O’Halloran Search Data Center How to decommission a data center: A step-by-step guide Follow this step-by-step guide on decommissioning a data center, covering planning, inventory management, data security, and ... Smart data centers: Grid-friendly partners to power networks Smart data centers reduce costs and enhance grid stability, enabling operators to evolve from passive consumers to active ... 10 top AI hardware and chip-making companies in 2026 [...] ### Observability tools Companies will likewise recognize that greater granularity is needed to observe and act on multi-cloud and on-premises IT activities. Current network monitoring tools can't provide this granularity, but observability tools can. With observability, IT can drill down into transaction workflows, system logs, container activities, user credentials and locational breaches and anomalies. ## The micro cloud edge rises as a cost-effective option A micro cloud edge fuses edge deployments with cloud computing. In essence, edge sites have their own mini clouds that contain preconfigured hardware and containerized software, ready to go and easy to deploy.

  • Cloud Computing Trends to Watch in 2026 | CloudKeeper

    Many industries, especially finance and healthcare, are using hybrid models to balance compliance and scalability. Sensitive workloads stay on-prem, while compute-heavy operations move to the cloud. This mix keeps costs in check while maintaining agility. ## 7. Cloud-Native Software Development Will Lead the Way Going by what cloud computing trends suggest, the writing is on the wall for monolithic cloud architecture. By 2026, the shift toward cloud-native development will be complete — applications will be built using microservices, containers, and serverless frameworks right from the get-go! This shift allows for faster scaling, easier updates, and reduced downtime. With tools like Kubernetes, Docker, and AWS Lambda, developers can now build and deploy features independently. [...] “Resilience and redundancy” are the two Rs that attract companies to a multi-cloud setup. If one provider faces downtime or changes its pricing, your business doesn’t take the hit — you’ve got backup options. ### The Rise of Hybrid Cloud (Native + Public Integrations) Hybrid setups are a highlight of cloud computing trends for 2026 — where on-premises (native) systems work hand in hand with public clouds — and are becoming more popular. It gives companies the best of both worlds: the control of local infrastructure and the flexibility of the cloud. [...] Juaiko Sparks Alright, buckle up, cloud enthusiasts! Ever feel like the future is already here, just unevenly distributed? Cloud computing in 2026 seems poised to gobble up AI like Pac-Man on a power pellet. Makes you wonder, how much on-premise will even exist? I remember back in 2018 trying to wrangle a barely-functional GPU cluster for machine learning, oh the headaches! Resource allocation was a nightmare, and debugging felt like shouting into the void. Looking at the proposed trend, the shift to cloud-based AI services will remove all that trouble for sure, it is such a relief. Sharing my insights about cloud computing with you all. Don't forget to play wordle unilimited and then come back here. angelnicaella