Amazon shares increased on Monday propelling the tech giant to a valuation of $3 trillion for the first time ever, as its stock price topped the $278.87 mark.
The primary engine behind the surge was Amazon Web Services (AWS). The closely watched cloud-computing division saw revenue jump 36.7% year-over-year, marking its fastest pace of expansion in 18 quarters. AWS now operates at an annualized revenue run rate of $169 billion, bolstered by a swelling contract backlog that reached $496 billion.
Amazon AI Infrastructure Investment
Amazon has dramatically increased its investment in AI infrastructure, positioning itself as one of the world’s largest spenders on artificial intelligence. The bulk of this investment is being directed through its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), to expand data centers, develop custom AI chips, and increase computing capacity for enterprise AI customers.
In its latest financial update, Amazon raised its projected 2026 capital expenditure to $220 billion, up from an earlier estimate of $200 billion, citing surging demand for AI services and higher memory and infrastructure costs. CEO Andy Jassy said demand continues to outpace available capacity, with much of AWS’s planned computing capacity for 2027 already committed to customers.
Amazon also disclosed an $35 billion commitment to OpenAI to deepen its footprint in the AI ecosystem signalling to investors regarding the company’s aggressive, capital-intensive growth strategy.
