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AWS can reach $1T in revenue, Jassy says, as Amazon plans $220B capex

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AWS can reach $1T in revenue, Jassy says, as Amazon plans $220B capex

During Amazon's quarterly earnings call on Thursday, CEO Andy Jassy repeated his belief that AWS can become a trillion-dollar revenue business. “What we’re building at Amazon is unlike anything that’s ever been seen before,” he said. “There has never been a business with a trillion dollars of annual revenue.”

Getting there costs money first. Jassy said Amazon still expects 2026 cash capex of approximately $220 billion, the majority of it for AWS, and expects to spend meaningfully more in 2027. He said that spending comes with a clear line of sight to financial returns. No dollar figure was given for 2027.

The spending has worried investors for much of the year, and the call showed it. Wall Street analysts repeatedly asked Jassy to explain the spending, the signals that growth will really come, and the profit margins Amazon expects. Jassy told them it was money well spent, because Amazon planned to capitalize on a historic moment in global cloud demand driven by AI.

The numbers he offered: AWS revenue rose 39 percent from the year-ago quarter, which TechCrunch describes as steady growth for the sixth straight quarter. Jassy said AWS is a $184 billion annualized revenue run-rate business, “and yet the opportunity remains extraordinary.” He added that, given the pace of innovation, new core and AI functionality, enterprises wanting to run core and AI workloads on AWS, and the capacity Amazon adds each year, “we believe that AWS can grow north of 40 percent in each 2027 and in 2028, and be a trillion-dollar revenue business in the next five to 10 years.” TechCrunch calls this a forecast; Jassy's own wording is a belief about what AWS can do.

Jassy said the company is “in the very early days” of enterprise AI adoption and that, so far, the “strategy is working.” Asked later why the investment needed to grow AWS was so large, he called the AI boom a “once in a lifetime opportunity” that required, and was worth, such a big commitment now. “We can fund this plan, and I think it will forever change the size of Amazon. It will forever change our revenue,” he said.

Investors stayed uneasy: Amazon shares were down about 6% on Thursday in after-market trading. TechCrunch frames the AI boom as a mixed blessing for cloud companies, since the AI services behind it run on cloud infrastructure. Other cloud providers are also spending big and earning big; Microsoft, for example, just posted another record-breaking quarter of revenue growth driven largely by its cloud business, and it too has spent heavily.

Key facts

  • Amazon still expects about $220 billion of cash capex in 2026, the majority for AWS, and meaningfully more in 2027.
  • AWS revenue grew 39 percent year over year, the sixth straight quarter of steady growth, and AWS runs at a $184 billion annualized revenue rate.
  • Jassy said Amazon believes AWS can grow north of 40 percent in each of 2027 and 2028 and become a trillion-dollar revenue business in the next five to 10 years.
  • Analysts repeatedly pressed Jassy on the spending, the signals that growth will come, and expected margins; shares fell about 6% in after-market trading.

Why it matters

Amazon is pairing a very large spending plan with a very large revenue goal. About $220 billion of capex in 2026, mostly for AWS, with more to come in 2027, is the cost Jassy says must be paid before AWS reaches $1 trillion in annual revenue. The call also shows how investors are reading AI infrastructure spending: the growth numbers were strong, yet the shares still fell about 6% after hours.

Who it affects

Amazon investors, who have worried about the AI buildout all year and pressed Jassy on it. AWS customers, since Jassy points to enterprises wanting to run core and AI workloads on AWS as a driver of growth. Rival cloud providers, with Microsoft named as another company posting record growth while spending heavily.

How to use it

Read it as a marker of Amazon's stated plan: capex of roughly $220 billion in 2026, more in 2027, AWS growth above 40 percent in 2027 and 2028, and a trillion-dollar target within five to 10 years. If you follow cloud or AI infrastructure, these are the figures to track against later quarters, starting with the 39 percent growth rate and the $184 billion run-rate.

How solid is it

The figures come from Jassy's remarks on the earnings call as reported by TechCrunch, with direct quotes for the capex, run-rate and growth statements. The 40 percent growth and trillion-dollar goal are stated as beliefs about what AWS can do, not as guidance, though TechCrunch's paraphrase calls them a forecast. The article gives no dollar figure for 2027 capex and does not say what share of the $220 billion goes to AWS beyond “the majority.”

Risks and caveats

Investors remained concerned, and the 6% drop was in after-market trading on Thursday only. The plan depends on AI-driven cloud demand continuing, which is Jassy's claim, and analysts asked for evidence of it and of expected margins. The article gives no details on those margins or on the returns Jassy says have a clear line of sight.

“We can fund this plan, and I think it will forever change the size of Amazon. It will forever change our revenue.”

— Andy Jassy, Amazon CEO, on the quarterly earnings call