Amazon just delivered its strongest cloud performance in nearly three years, sending shares rocketing over 10% in after-hours trading. The company crushed Q3 earnings expectations with AWS revenue accelerating 20.2% to $33 billion - a growth rate CEO Andy Jassy says they haven't seen since 2022. While Google and Microsoft have been grabbing AI headlines, Amazon's cloud dominance is back in full force.
Amazon just reminded Wall Street why it built the cloud computing industry from scratch. The e-commerce giant's third-quarter earnings sent shares soaring more than 10% in extended trading Thursday, driven by AWS revenue that accelerated to levels not seen since the pandemic boom.
The numbers tell a story of Amazon reclaiming its cloud momentum. AWS revenue jumped 20.2% to $33 billion, easily beating analyst expectations of $32.42 billion and representing the fastest growth rate since 2022. Total company revenue hit $180.17 billion versus the $177.8 billion Wall Street expected, while earnings per share of $1.95 crushed estimates of $1.57.
"We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we've been focused on accelerating capacity - adding more than 3.8 gigawatts in the past 12 months," CEO Andy Jassy said in Amazon's earnings statement. The capacity expansion represents a massive bet on AI workloads that's clearly paying off.
The timing couldn't be better for Amazon's cloud resurgence. Just this week, Google reported 34% cloud revenue growth while Microsoft Azure posted 40% growth, creating narrative pressure on Amazon's leadership position. But AWS remains the undisputed cloud king with roughly twice the market share of its nearest competitor.
Amazon's AI strategy is becoming clearer with each quarter. The company opened its $11 billion AI data center called Project Rainier on Wednesday, built exclusively to run models from Claude chatbot creator Anthropic. It's also rolling out AI tools across every business unit, from the Q chatbot for enterprises to Bedrock for cloud customers.
The consumer-facing AI push is gaining serious traction. Amazon's Rufus shopping chatbot has attracted 250 million users this year, with 60% more likely to complete purchases after interacting with the AI assistant according to the . That conversion rate suggests Amazon's AI isn't just a novelty - it's driving real business value.
