Amazon reported strong first-quarter results, beating Wall Street estimates for both earnings and revenue. Revenue jumped 17% from a year earlier, while adjusted earnings reached $2.78 per share, significantly exceeding the forecast of $1.64 per share. Shares edged higher following the announcement of the sharp increase in net profit.
Much of this growth was driven by Amazon Web Services, which now accounts for over 20% of the company's total revenue. The cloud computing unit saw its fastest sales growth in more than three years, topping analyst expectations. This surge was fueled by strong enterprise spending as companies devote significant resources to their artificial intelligence efforts.
To support this growth, Amazon spent more than anticipated to expand its data center capacity. The company's chief executive stated that while the cloud business is making more money than expected, the company is spending a lot and will continue to do so in the near term.