Amazon Plans About $200 Billion in 2026 Spending, and Shares Fall

Amazon said Thursday that it expects to spend about $200 billion on capital projects in 2026, far above what Wall Street had projected, and its shares fell more than 11 percent, according to CNBC (in extended trading) and France 24 (AFP).

CNBC reported that the forecast is the highest among the largest U.S. technology companies and more than $50 billion above analysts’ expectations; France 24 reported that analysts had forecast about $147 billion. CNBC reported that Amazon spent roughly $131 billion on property and equipment in 2025, up from about $83 billion in 2024, and that most of the planned spending is for data centers.

Amazon Web Services, the cloud unit, reported sales up 24 percent to $35.6 billion, both outlets reported. Chief executive Andy Jassy called it AWS’s “fastest growth in 13 quarters,” CNBC reported. CNBC reported that AWS added almost 4 gigawatts of computing capacity in 2025 and expects to double that by the end of 2027, and that Jassy said AWS could have grown faster with more capacity.

Jassy defended the spending on the earnings call. “We have very high demand; customers really want AWS for core and AI workloads,” and “We’re monetizing capacity as fast as we can install it,” he said, according to France 24. He told analysts he was “confident” the cloud unit would deliver a strong return on invested capital, though he did not say when, and said, “This isn’t some sort of quixotic, top-line grab,” CNBC reported. He described the artificial intelligence market as a “barbell,” with AI labs at one end and companies using AI to boost productivity and avoid costs at the other, and said the middle “very well may end up being the largest and most durable,” CNBC reported.

Analysts pressed the point. Mark Mahaney of Evercore ISI asked Jassy to explain his confidence in the long-term return, and Ross Sandler of Barclays noted that AI spending is “a bit top-heavy” and concentrated among a few AI-focused labs, CNBC reported. Sky Canaves, an analyst at eMarketer, told AFP that Amazon is “willing to outspend its rivals with an eye-watering $200 billion in planned capex spending for 2026,” and called the AWS rebound a standout.

The figure dwarfs peers’ plans reported so far. Alphabet said it would spend up to $185 billion in 2026, and Meta said its 2026 capital spending could be between $115 billion and $135 billion, nearly double last year, CNBC reported. AFP reported that shares of Alphabet and Microsoft also fell after their latest reports even though cloud demand was surging, as investors focused on the billions going into AI and cloud infrastructure.