Amazon Tops $3 Trillion Market Cap as Shares Hit a Record High. AI-Powered AWS Growth Fuels Post-Earnings Rally

Amazon crossed a historic milestone on Monday, surpassing a $3 trillion market capitalization for the first time after investors cheered a blockbuster second-quarter earnings report.

Shares of the e-commerce and technology giant climbed about 4% to a new all-time high, marking their strongest performance since early May. The rally extended gains that began after Amazon reported earnings last week that exceeded Wall Street expectations across key financial metrics, reinforcing investor confidence that the company is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI spending boom.

The surge places Amazon among an elite group of companies valued above $3 trillion, underscoring how rapidly investor enthusiasm has shifted toward technology firms building the infrastructure needed to power the next generation of artificial intelligence.

Amazon reported adjusted earnings of $1.97 per share for the second quarter, comfortably beating analysts' expectations of $1.82 per share. Revenue reached $200.61 billion, also topping Wall Street forecasts of $196.47 billion.

While Amazon's retail business remains its largest operation by revenue, it was the continued strength of Amazon Web Services (AWS) that captured investors' attention. AWS generated $42.2 billion in revenue during the quarter, significantly ahead of analysts' expectations of $40.54 billion. The results reflected accelerating demand from businesses investing heavily in AI applications, data processing and cloud infrastructure.

Cloud computing has become one of the most important battlegrounds in the technology industry as companies race to develop and deploy increasingly sophisticated AI models that require enormous computing power.

Amazon is not alone in benefiting from that trend. Last week's earnings reports from its largest competitors also showcased explosive cloud growth. Microsoft said Azure revenue jumped 43% during its latest fiscal quarter, while Google reported 82% growth in its cloud business, highlighting the extraordinary pace of enterprise investment in AI infrastructure.

Amazon executives indicated that demand remains far stronger than the company can currently supply. During the earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy announced that Amazon is raising its capital expenditure forecast for the year to $220 billion, an increase from the $200 billion projection the company provided in February.

Much of that spending will go toward expanding data centers, networking equipment and AI computing capacity as the company scrambles to keep pace with customer demand. Jassy said rising memory prices tied to the AI buildout also contributed to the higher investment forecast.

Despite the record spending, he suggested Amazon still expects supply constraints to continue well into the future. "But even at that amount, we will still not have enough capacity to meet all the demand we have in 2026, and I believe this dynamic will also be true in 2027 too," Jassy told investors during the earnings call. "In fact, the demand we already have for 2028 is striking."