Amazon: Record Growth in AWS Driven by AI and Infrastructure Expansion
Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, revealed that the cloud computing division (AWS) achieved a year-over-year growth of 39.3% during the third quarter of 2026, the fastest growth rate in five years. This performance comes in light of the company's strategy to enhance AI capabilities, with new AI accelerators being installed every 14 seconds to meet increasing customer demand.
The AWS Flywheel Strategy
Jassy explained that the success of AWS relies on an integrated model; where leadership in performance and security attracts customers to store their data and run their applications on the platform, which boosts demand for AI services. These services, in turn, require core computing resources, creating a continuous cycle of reinvestment in infrastructure and innovation.
Developments in AI and Cloud Services
The Amazon Bedrock service witnessed exceptional growth, with spending by Fortune 500 companies on it increasing 7-fold, and the volume of tokens increasing 17-fold compared to last year. Amazon has expanded the range of models supported in Bedrock to include models from OpenAI, Kimi, GLM, and SpaceX.
In a move to enhance data efficiency, Amazon acquired DuckLabs, where the DuckDB engine will become the unified SQL dialect in AWS storage and analytics services, allowing customers to move data and run queries without migration costs between different engines.
Cybersecurity as a Pillar for Growth
With the increasing complexity of software, the company launched AWS Continuum, a tool designed to detect security vulnerabilities in code and address them at high speed. The company plans to integrate this tool into development environments such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and AWS Kiro, in response to unprecedented customer demand.
Why This News Matters
This report reflects a strategic shift in the cloud computing market, where competition is no longer limited to providing storage space or computing power, but has become dependent on offering an integrated ecosystem of AI tools and intelligent agents. Furthermore, the expansion in capital expenditure (Capex) indicates Amazon's confidence that the returns on investment in AI infrastructure will generate strong long-term cash flows, exceeding the high initial costs of components and hardware.