Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported its strongest quarterly growth in over three years, with revenue reaching $35.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to a Thursday announcement. This represents a 24% year-over-year increase, signaling robust demand for cloud services. Simultaneously, the company projected $200 billion in capital expenditures throughout 2026, primarily for AI, chips, robotics, and low earth orbit satellites.
The surge in AWS revenue, with an annual revenue run rate of $142 billion, highlights the significant scale of its operations. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy noted the difference between the current growth rate on a large base compared to competitors with higher percentage growth on a smaller base. This growth comes as the tech industry continues to invest heavily in AI infrastructure.
Reddit also revealed its plans to capitalize on the AI boom, suggesting its AI-powered search engine could be a major opportunity for its business. During its fourth-quarter earnings call, the company hinted at merging traditional and AI search, recognizing the potential of generative AI search for many queries. "Theres a type of query were, I think, particularly good at I would argue, the best on the internet which is questions that have no answers, where the answer actually is multiple perspectives from lots of people," said Reddit CEO Steve Huffman.
The focus on AI extends beyond established tech giants. Sapiom, a startup founded by Ilan Zerbib, former director of engineering for payments at Shopify, raised $15 million to develop the financial layer for AI agents. Zerbib's solution aims to simplify the process of connecting AI-generated applications with external tech services, addressing the challenges faced by non-technical creators.
The tech industry's influence continues to grow, with seven of the top 10 richest people in the world directly tied to tech, as noted by The Washington Post. This dominance is reflected in the widespread integration of technology, particularly machine learning and AI, across various sectors. The race to build the most data centers, and therefore the most compute power, is seen as a key strategy for success in the AI landscape, according to some industry observers.
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