Amazon said it will sharply increase capital spending in 2027 as it speeds up investment in AI infrastructure. As it pours massive funding into large-scale data centres and AI chips, market concerns are also growing over deteriorating cash flow.

On Oct. 29, Business Insider reported that Amazon maintained its forecast for $220 billion in cash-based capital expenditures this year in its results for the third quarter of 2026. Chief Executive Andy Jassy (앤디 재시) said spending in 2027 would be significantly higher than that. He did not provide a specific amount.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky (브라이언 올사브스키) explained that third-quarter cash-based capital expenditures reached $75.9 billion, with most of it used for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and building AI infrastructure. Over the past 12 months, free cash flow posted a deficit of $42.4 billion due to the expanded investment.

Amazon's total third-quarter revenue rose 12 percent from a year earlier to $201.9 billion, and operating profit came to $28.1 billion. The operating margin hit a record high of 13.9 percent, but revenue and net profit fell short of market expectations. The stock also fell in after-hours trading.

The cloud business, however, grew sharply. AWS third-quarter revenue rose 39.3 percent from a year earlier to $46.0 billion, marking the highest growth rate in about five years. Jassy forecast that AWS revenue will grow more than 40 percent in each of 2027 and 2028.

Jassy also stressed that future demand has been secured, saying large customers are reserving data centre capacity in advance ranging from hundreds of megawatts to as much as 1 gigawatt. He also said investment costs can be recovered within three years once AI servers begin operating.

Power procurement and delays in data centre construction have emerged as a variable, as they have prevented the timely installation of AI servers that have already been delivered.

Amazon expects the heavy investment to change revenue and cash flow over the long term, but the market is watching how quickly the investment will translate into actual returns.