Amazon Web Services (AWS) pushed back against concerns about an AI investment bubble, saying AI spending at current levels is sustainable.

According to an Axios report on Oct. 16, John Felton (존 펠턴), AWS chief financial officer, said AI investment is sustainable because it is driving meaningful innovation.

He also stressed that AWS AI capital expenditure is already delivering results. "We recoup AI server investment costs within three years. The demand is real," he said.

Felton also cited nearly $500 billion in backlog as of the second quarter as grounds to rebut AI bubble claims. He said orders are coming in broadly from customers of all sizes, including large corporations, major AI research and development firms and small and midsize businesses.

AWS posted second-quarter revenue of $42.2 billion. That was up 36.7 percent from a year earlier. Annualised AI revenue also more than doubled from a year earlier to exceed $25 billion.

Felton said AI should be seen as a tool to boost productivity rather than a cost-cutting tool. "AI reduces annoying chores so employees can spend time on more valuable work," he said. He also shared that an analysis of token usage inside AWS showed token usage and productivity were almost directly proportional.

His remarks came after Gartner warned that more than $3.5 trillion in AI infrastructure investment could be impaired by the end of 2030. Gartner predicted that more than 80 percent of AI specialist cloud companies will not survive independently by 2030.