Amazon Q1 Sales Hit $181.5B, AWS Up 28%

Amazon reported first-quarter 2026 net sales of $181.5 billion on April 29, surpassing analyst expectations, with Amazon Web Services driving growth through strong artificial intelligence demand and new partnerships.

The results, released after market close, showed a 17 percent increase in overall sales from the year-earlier period. AWS revenue rose 28 percent to $37.6 billion, exceeding forecasts of $36.6 billion and marking the unit's fastest growth in 15 quarters. Advertising revenue climbed 24 percent to $17.2 billion, while capital expenditures reached $44.2 billion, up 76 percent year over year, reflecting heavy investments in AI infrastructure.

Company executives highlighted several milestones. AWS expanded ties with OpenAI, making its latest models available on the platform shortly after Microsoft ended its exclusive partnership with the AI firm. Amazon also committed up to $25 billion to Anthropic, which pledged more than $100 billion in spending on AWS over the next decade. Additional AWS partnerships included Meta, NVIDIA, Uber, U.S. Bank, Fox Corporation, and Southwest Airlines. "We're making customers' lives easier and better every day across all our businesses, and...