Amazon and Google are leading the charge in capital expenditures related to artificial intelligence, data centers, and robotics, according to recent earnings reports. Amazon projects $200 billion in capital expenditures throughout 2026, a significant increase from the $131.8 billion spent in 2025, the company announced on Thursday. This investment spans AI, chips, robotics, and low earth orbit satellites.
The surge in spending reflects a broader trend among tech giants vying for dominance in the AI landscape. The prevailing belief is that the company with the most robust data center infrastructure and computing power will ultimately develop the most advanced AI products and secure long-term success.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported strong growth, further fueling the company's AI ambitions. AWS ended 2025 with its strongest quarterly growth rate in more than three years, recording $35.6 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter, a 24% year-over-year increase. The annual revenue run rate for AWS is $142 billion, according to Amazon. Operating income for AWS also increased, rising from $10.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $12.5 billion in the same period in 2025. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emphasized the significance of this growth, stating, "Its very different having 24 year-over-year growth on 142 billion annualized run rate than to have a higher percentage growth on a meaningfully smaller base, which is the case with our competitors."
Meanwhile, Reddit is exploring the potential of AI-powered search to boost its business. During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Reddit hinted that search, while not yet monetized, represents an "enormous market and opportunity." Reddit CEO Steve Huffman believes that generative AI search will be particularly effective for queries seeking multiple perspectives. "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," Huffman said.
In other AI-related developments, Sapiom, a startup founded by former Shopify director of engineering Ilan Zerbib, raised $15 million to develop a financial layer for AI agents. Sapiom aims to streamline the integration of AI-powered applications with external tech services, such as SMS, email, and payment processing.
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