Andy Jassy: AWS AI at a $15B run rate and Amazon to spend roughly $200B in capex next year

Key takeaways

In a new shareholder letter, it has been reported that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy disclosed AWS’s AI revenue has reached a $15 billion annual run rate as of Q1 2026, and that Amazon plans to spend roughly $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2026. He also touted the company’s internal chips business as generating over $20 billion a year, and it has been reported that two large customers allegedly asked to buy all of Amazon’s available Graviton capacity for 2026 — requests the company turned down. Big numbers. Big confidence.

AI, chips and demand

Jassy frames these figures as evidence, not bravado. “We have never seen a technology more quickly adopted than AI,” he writes, it has been reported, arguing that demand justifies the heavy investments. AWS’s broader revenue run rate was around $142 billion as of late 2025, so a $15 billion AI slice is notable — and, Jassy notes, a long way from AWS’s early days when cloud was a fraction of that scale. He paints AI as a “land rush” and positions Amazon squarely in the middle of it.

Why the $200B? A defense

“We’re not investing approximately $200 billion in capex in 2026 on a hunch,” Jassy insists, it has been reported, offering the company’s own metrics as ballast. He acknowledged free cash flow fell from $38 billion to $11 billion last year due largely to a $50.7 billion increase in capital spending, primarily for AI infrastructure. The emotional core of the letter is clear: patience, please — these are deliberate bets, not reckless gambles.

Stakes and context

This is Jassy’s fifth shareholder letter and reads like a plea for runway: big bets across AI, custom silicon, satellite broadband and fast delivery, with proofs of progress sprinkled in (Amazon saying it’s now the second-largest U.S. grocer; Leo satellite broadband aiming for commercial launch mid-2026). Are investors willing to sit tight and watch the payoff? That’s the question. For now, Amazon is doubling down — loudly, numerically, and unapologetically.

Sources: geekwire.com