Amazon reported second-quarter results after the closing bell on Thursday, and investors liked what they saw. According to TradingView, revenue rose 20% year over year while growth at Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud computing arm, accelerated.
CNBC reported that AWS posted its fastest growth since 2021, with Amazon pointing to demand for artificial intelligence services and chips as the driver. Yahoo Finance reported that Amazon's combined AI and chip businesses are now on a $25 billion annual run rate — a figure that annualizes recent sales to show how big a young business has become.
The market reaction was immediate. Yahoo Finance reported that Amazon shares soared more than 8% in after-hours trading on July 30, 2026, as earnings topped forecasts and the company showed investors that its heavy spending on AI infrastructure is starting to pay off.
Rather than easing off, Amazon is spending more. WRAL reported the company plans to boost spending on AI and other technology by $20 billion following the strong quarter, and TradingView noted that AI and cloud demand is driving record capital expenditures.
That combination — enormous outlays plus a rising stock — is the twist. TechCrunch framed it bluntly: investors love AI, as long as you're a cloud host. Amazon isn't slowing down on data center spending, and shareholders don't seem to mind.
Why it matters: Wall Street has spent much of the AI boom asking when the massive spending on data centers and chips will actually show up as profit, and Amazon's quarter is one of the clearest signs yet that, at least for the companies renting out the computing power, it already is.