Amazon's overall revenue reached $181.5 billion in the first quarter, marking a 17% increase and surpassing Wall Street forecasts. This growth was significantly supported by a 28% surge in Amazon Web Services, the fastest growth rate in nearly four years, reinforcing the company’s ambitious $200 billion capital spending strategy.
Operating income soared to $23.9 billion, a 30% increase, while profits totaled $30.3 billion, translating to $2.78 per diluted share. However, these figures were bolstered by a $16.8 billion pre-tax gain from an investment in Anthropic, leading to adjusted earnings per share of $1.61, slightly below analyst projections.
The advertising sector also saw a robust performance with a 24% growth, bringing in $17.2 billion for the quarter, and pushing annual advertising revenue past $70 billion. Meanwhile, unit sales in the core e-commerce division increased by 15%, attributed to enhanced delivery speeds, including over 1 billion items shipped the same day or overnight this year.
Amazon disclosed that its AWS revenue backlog expanded to $364 billion, up from $244 billion previously, indicating strong demand. Additionally, revenue commitments for Trainium, Amazon's custom AI chip, now exceed $225 billion, highlighting the company's significant investments in AI and infrastructure.