Amazon reports Q2 2026 earnings on July 30 with consensus expectations putting AWS cloud revenue near $40.5 billion, with growth expected to accelerate versus the prior year.
The company has $364 billion in remaining performance obligations from AWS customers—money already committed for future cloud services. That’s a war chest of predictable revenue.
The OpenAI Factor
Amazon and OpenAI recently expanded their partnership to nearly $140 billion over eight years. OpenAI will use AWS to distribute Frontier and other AI models. Amazon will get predictable, high-margin revenue. Both companies win.
This deal signals AWS’s confidence in capturing AI workloads. OpenAI chose AWS over building its own infrastructure, a major vote of confidence in Amazon’s execution.
Competition Intensifies
Microsoft and Amazon are bidding aggressively for enterprise AI contracts. The two companies have nearly unlimited budgets and are willing to lose money on deals if it means locking customers in for years.
AWS came to dominate enterprise cloud by being better and cheaper than on-premise alternatives. The AI era will play out similarly—but faster and with higher stakes.
The Investor Question
Like Microsoft, Amazon faces skepticism about whether it’s overpaying for AI infrastructure. Strong AWS growth will help. Customers voting with their wallets matters more than any CEO commentary.
AWS profitability and growth prove that cloud infrastructure, especially for AI, is a defensible business. Amazon will likely beat expectations.
