Amazon’s cloud unit AWS reported third-quarter revenue of $45.98 billion, up 39% from a year earlier and above the $45.29 billion StreetAccount analyst consensus, in results released on 29 October, CNBC reported. Revenue growth accelerated from about 37% in the second quarter. The results put AWS ahead of the forecast as Amazon expanded its AI infrastructure and signed agreements with Meta and OpenAI.
Key points
- AWS revenue grew 39% to $45.98 billion, against a $45.29 billion StreetAccount consensus.
- Operating income rose 55% to $17.77 billion, taking the segment margin to 38.7%.
- AWS signed agreements with Meta and OpenAI, bought DuckLabs and announced plans to expand its Nvidia GPU portfolio.
AWS operating income reaches $17.77 billion
AWS generated $17.77 billion in operating income, an increase of 55% from a year earlier. That exceeded the $16.97 billion consensus among analysts polled by StreetAccount. Its operating margin reached 38.7%, its widest since the first quarter of 2025. AWS accounted for almost 23% of Amazon, a record for the segment, according to CNBC.
The margin matters alongside the revenue acceleration because Amazon is adding infrastructure for AI workloads. AWS announced plans during the quarter to expand its range of Nvidia graphics processing units, the chips used to run those workloads. The results report revenue and operating income already earned by the cloud unit. The Nvidia expansion is a plan, rather than an addition to the quarter’s reported capacity.
Before Amazon published its results, analysts expected AWS revenue of $45.68 billion and growth of 38%, 24/7 Wall St reported on 29 October. Those expectations were separate from the StreetAccount consensus of $45.29 billion reported with the results. The publication also reported a forecast from UBS analyst Stephen Ju for a 46% AWS operating margin in 2027, against a 39% analyst consensus for that year.
Google Cloud and Azure also accelerate
Amazon’s report followed results from its two principal cloud rivals. Alphabet said Google Cloud, which includes infrastructure services and Google Workspace subscriptions, more than doubled in the third quarter. Microsoft also reported faster cloud growth. AWS remained the top cloud provider by revenue, CNBC reported.
Microsoft’s Azure revenue grew 48% in its latest quarter, according to 24/7 Wall St. The publication reported that Microsoft’s capital expenditure and finance leases totalled $45.2 billion, below a $50.7 billion analyst consensus, and that delayed third-party capacity pushed some deliveries into the second half of Microsoft’s fiscal year. AI Affairs previously reported Microsoft’s first disclosure of $33.2 billion in quarterly Azure revenue.
The cloud businesses sit within different reporting units. Google Cloud’s figure includes Workspace subscriptions, while AWS is Amazon’s cloud-computing segment. Their reported growth rates therefore describe the businesses each company reports, rather than identical sets of services. Alphabet’s cloud revenue growth reached 103% in the quarter, 24/7 Wall St reported.
Meta and OpenAI sign AWS agreements
AWS signed agreements with Meta and OpenAI during the quarter and acquired DuckLabs, a data-analysis startup. The agreements add two named AI customers to the quarter’s commercial activity, alongside the Nvidia chip plans and the acquisition.
OpenAI also has a financial relationship with a cloud rival. AI Affairs previously reported $10 billion in quarterly Microsoft revenue from OpenAI. Meta, meanwhile, raised the lower end of its 2026 capital spending guidance to a range of $135 billion to $145 billion when it reported results on 21 October, according to 24/7 Wall St. Meta’s revenue for that quarter rose 26.1% to $64.60 billion.
