Amazon cloud revenue surges 28% as AI capex hits $59.3B
Amazon Web Services net sales rose 28% year-over-year to $37.6 billion in Q1 2026, the fastest growth in 15 quarters. CEO Andy Jassy attributed the surge to AI compute demand, noting AWS's AI revenue run rate is now $15 billion—260 times larger than the early cloud wave. Capital expenditure jumped $59.3 billion year-over-year, mostly for AI infrastructure, causing free cash flow to drop 95% to $1.2 billion. Jassy compared the cycle to AWS's early growth, promising long-term payoff. Overall Amazon sales rose 17% to $181.5 billion, with North America up 12% and international up 19%.
Key facts
- AWS net sales increased 28% year-over-year to $37.6 billion in Q1 2026.
- AWS growth rate is the fastest in 15 quarters.
- AWS AI revenue run rate exceeds $15 billion, 260 times larger than early cloud revenue.
- Amazon's capital expenditure rose $59.3 billion year-over-year, mostly for AI infrastructure.
- Free cash flow dropped 95% to $1.2 billion for the trailing twelve months.
- Overall Amazon sales rose 17% to $181.5 billion.
- North America sales grew 12%, international sales grew 19%.
- Jassy said capex growth will continue in the near term.
Entities
Institutions
- Amazon
- Amazon Web Services
- TechCrunch
Locations
- United States