Amazon’s market value has exceeded $3 trillion for the first time after a sharp rally in its share price, with investors responding positively to strong earnings and continued demand for artificial intelligence services that are boosting its cloud computing business.
The Seattle-based technology giant’s shares rose 5% to a record $285.01 in Wall Street trading, extending gains for the year to more than 23%. The milestone follows one of the company’s strongest earnings reports in recent years, driven by rapid expansion at Amazon Web Services (AWS), its largest source of profit.
Last week, Amazon recorded its biggest one-day share price increase since April 2012 after reporting its fastest cloud revenue growth in more than four years. The company also raised its annual capital spending forecast, signalling continued investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Market analysts said Amazon’s results have eased concerns that major technology companies might slow spending on AI projects.
Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, described Amazon as a company benefiting from two major themes shaping the economy: consumer demand and artificial intelligence. He said investors had entered earnings season questioning whether the largest cloud providers would reduce AI investment, but strong updates from both Amazon and Microsoft suggested those concerns had faded.
The positive sentiment spread across the technology sector. Microsoft shares gained 4%, Meta Platforms climbed 6%, Alphabet added 3.6% and Oracle advanced 5%.
Microsoft also strengthened investor confidence after saying it expects to remain cash-generative through its 2027 financial year while forecasting capital expenditure below Wall Street expectations. The update helped deliver the software company’s biggest one-day share gain since 2008.
Not all technology companies have experienced the same financial performance. Tesla and Alphabet both reported negative free cash flow during the latest quarter, marking the first such result for Alphabet. Meta also reported a 91% decline in free cash flow as it continued investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Hackett said investors were increasingly distinguishing between the individual performance of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” technology companies rather than treating them as a single group. He said the shift reflected a healthier market environment where company-specific results were playing a larger role in valuations.
Amazon joins Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Nvidia as companies that have reached a market valuation of at least $3 trillion. Nvidia remains the world’s most valuable listed company, with a market capitalisation approaching $5 trillion.
Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon reached a $2 trillion valuation in June 2024 and has added another trillion dollars in just over two years.
AWS has continued to strengthen its position through partnerships involving cloud infrastructure and advanced chip supply agreements with leading artificial intelligence developers, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. Those collaborations have reinforced the company’s role as one of the key providers of computing power supporting the rapid expansion of AI technologies.
