Amazon Breaks $3T Mark Amid Cloud Growth Spree
Microsoft and Amazon have seen their stocks surge in recent days, with both companies' cloud platforms exceeding expectations. Microsoft's Azure grew 43%, passing $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time, while Amazon's AWS saw a 37% growth rate, its fastest pace in 18 quarters.
The gains have pushed Amazon past $3 trillion in value for the first time and placed it among the world's most valuable companies. Microsoft and Amazon are now the fourth and fifth most valuable companies, respectively, with Nvidia, Alphabet, and Apple holding the top spots.
Despite concerns over AI spending, both companies' stocks have rallied significantly. Microsoft spent a record $41 billion on capital projects last quarter and told investors to expect more than $50 billion in the current quarter. Amazon raised its 2026 forecast to about $220 billion from $200 billion, citing rising memory chip prices.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy attributed the spending to unmet demand, stating 'Even at that amount, we will still not have enough capacity to meet all the demand we have in 2026, and I believe this dynamic will also be true in 2027 too. In fact, the demand we already have for 2028 is striking.'
The gains come as both companies operate with fewer employees, with Amazon confirming 16,000 more corporate job cuts in January and Microsoft cutting 4,800 jobs in July.