Amazon Stock Rises Sharply as AWS Cloud Business Surpasses Expectations
Amazon (AMZN) shares surged by 15% on July 31, 2026, following the release of strong second-quarter financial results. The e-commerce and cloud computing giant exceeded expectations primarily due to robust performance from its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division, which reported $42.2 billion in revenue—a year-over-year increase of 36.7%. AWS's growth was driven by both core cloud services and AI offerings. In addition to strong cloud results, Amazon highlighted that its custom chip business has surpassed a $25 billion annualized run rate and is growing at triple-digit rates. The company also announced plans to raise capital expenditures for AI infrastructure from around $200 billion to approximately $220 billion due to high demand. Analysts praised the results, calling it a 'home run' for Amazon given AWS's accelerating growth and expanding margins. CEO Andy Jassy noted that customer demand continues to outstrip server capacity, with expansion plans already extending into 2028.
Tickers: $AMZN
Topics: AI AWS capital_expenditures revenue_growth