Amazon's cloud division AWS accelerated to its fastest growth in 15 quarters on AI demand, but the company is spending $200 billion（約32兆円） on capital investment in 2026 to keep pace.

What happened: Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue rose 28% year over year to $37.6 billion（約6兆円） in the first quarter, marking its fastest growth in 15 quarters and reaching a $150 billion（約24兆円） annual revenue run rate. AWS's AI revenue alone has grown from essentially nothing three years ago to an annual run rate above $15 billion（約2.4兆円）, with an order backlog hitting $364 billion（約58兆円） before counting a recent Anthropic commitment worth more than $100 billion（約16兆円）.

Why it matters: AWS is Amazon's most profitable unit, generating about 21% of Amazon's $181.5 billion（約29兆円） in first-quarter revenue but about 59% of its operating income. The acceleration comes as Amazon increasingly designs its own custom chips — now running at more than a $20 billion（約3.2兆円） annual revenue run rate — which management says will save tens of billions in capital expenditures over time while adding several percentage points to AWS's margins. However, the company's plan to spend about $200 billion（約32兆円） on capital expenditures in 2026 (mostly on AWS and AI) has erased free cash flow, which shrank to about $1 billion（約1600億円） over the past 12 months.

What to watch: Amazon's price-to-earnings ratio is about 31. The company holds more than $225 billion（約36兆円） in commitments for its Trainium chips, and management views the investment as addressing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but faces risks if AI returns prove lower than expected or component costs continue to climb.