Oracle co-CEO touts AI as a boon for packaged software
Oracle's co-CEO Mike Sicilia told investors that AI will act as an accelerator for its applications, not a replacement. He said AI agents can handle routine tasks, freeing employees to oversee exceptions, and announced an October launch of an 'agentic AI accelerator' to speed SaaS deployments. The company also sees its SaaS business as a lead generator for its cloud infrastructure.
Oracle's cloud infrastructure revenue reached $11.6 billion, a 60 percent year-over-year gain, while its software segment slipped three percent to $5.5 billion. The company's SaaS applications grew ten percent. Executives noted that GPU capacity coming up for renewal in Q1 was renewed or resold at a 20 percent premium, with most of those chips being four years old or older.
Co-CEO Clay Magouyrk acknowledged that some datacenter mega-builds are progressing at different rates, making precise revenue predictions difficult. He characterized perfect construction timelines as unrealistic, suggesting Oracle expects some delays in bringing new facilities online.
The shift toward AI agents in enterprise software could reshape white-collar work, as routine tasks become automated and employees focus on exceptions. Businesses adopting Oracle's accelerator may see faster SaaS rollouts, but workers may need new skills to oversee AI systems. Smaller companies could gain efficiency advantages previously reserved for larger enterprises, though reliance on AI-driven processes may introduce new operational risks.