Microsoft and Amazon are positioned as long-term buy-and-hold stocks because both are building massive AI infrastructure that is expected to generate sustained revenue as AI workloads expand over the next two decades.

What happened

An investment analyst argues that Microsoft and Amazon are two companies best positioned to capitalize on AI infrastructure demand. Amazon's AWS cloud business achieved 28% growth in the first quarter—its best performance in 15 quarters—while its custom AI chip business grew at a triple-digit year-over-year pace. Microsoft's AI-enhanced productivity software business reached $37 billion（約5.9兆円） and is growing at 123%, and its Azure cloud service saw revenue rise 40% in its latest quarter.

Why it matters

Both companies operate on a usage-based cloud model where customers pay each time they run workloads on their servers. As AI becomes more integrated into business and daily workflows, these revenue streams are expected to remain sustainable because AI workloads will require tokens every time they run. Amazon's CEO noted the company is spending $200 billion（約32兆円） on infrastructure this year with a useful life of over 30 years, suggesting a long-term bet on AI compute demand. Additionally, Microsoft partners with OpenAI and Amazon with Anthropic, positioning them to benefit from AI workload activity regardless of which company's generative AI model customers prefer.

What to watch

Amazon expects its massive infrastructure spending to convert into strong free-cash-flow growth over the next few years. The article frames AI compute as a durable trend over the next two decades, making the strength of these companies' core businesses—Amazon's e-commerce and Microsoft's productivity software—alongside their cloud operations the basis for the long-term hold case.