[Digital Today reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google Cloud, known as the big three in the global cloud market, extended stronger-than-expected growth in the second quarter. All three made clear they will keep an aggressive investment stance despite concerns about overheated AI infrastructure spending.

Amazon's cloud business AWS posted second-quarter revenue of $42.23 billion, showing its highest growth rate since 2021. That was up about 37 percent from a year earlier and above the market estimate of $40.54 billion.

AWS growth also stood out compared with 28 percent in the first quarter. Amazon said its AWS artificial intelligence business and chip business each exceeded an annualised revenue run rate of $25 billion, and both more than doubled from last year.

AWS also showed strength in profitability. AWS second-quarter operating profit was $16.62 billion, far above the market forecast of $13.62 billion. The operating margin was 36.8 percent. About 61 percent of Amazon's total operating profit came from AWS.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy (앤디 재시) said on an earnings conference call that capital spending this year would reach $220 billion. Amazon said in February it expected this year's capital spending to be $200 billion and maintained that view in April. Jassy said rising memory prices pushed up the capex outlook and that the expansionary spending stance would continue for the time being.

He said even that level of spending would make it difficult to meet all demand in 2026, and he expects the trend to continue in 2027. He added that demand already secured for 2028 alone is at a surprising level.

Microsoft also posted 43 percent growth in its Azure cloud unit in fiscal 2026 fourth quarter ended in June. That was higher than 40 percent in the previous quarter and above the market estimate. Microsoft also said Azure annual revenue in fiscal 2026 topped $100 billion for the first time.

Microsoft decided to keep its capital spending guidance this year at the existing level.

Google Cloud also posted second-quarter revenue of $24.8 billion, up 82 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit was $8.8 billion, more than tripling from a year earlier. The operating margin expanded to 35.6 percent.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai (순다 피차이) said, "90 percent of Fortune 100 companies are using Gemini Enterprise," and added, "Demand for the Gemini model across developers and enterprise customers is translating into increased token usage, and supply shortages persist, showing rapid adoption and growth."

Pichai said the pace of acquiring new Google Cloud customers more than doubled from a year earlier, existing customers are exceeding committed volumes by more than 50 percent, and transaction volume on the Google Cloud Marketplace rose more than sevenfold from a year earlier.

Google parent Alphabet also raised its full-year capital expenditure (CAPEX) forecast to $195 billion to $205 billion from $180 billion to $190 billion, citing expanding demand for AI infrastructure and data centres.