Amazon shares slide 11% after hours on massive $200B capex plan

Today, Amazon reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2025. The company posted revenue of $213.4 billion, up 12% year-over-year (excluding the impact of foreign exchange). Operating income came in at $25.0 billion, up from $21.2 billion a year ago.

Amazon said growth was driven by strong performance across AWS, subscriptions, and advertising. AWS revenue rose to $35.57 billion, up 24% from $28.78 billion year-over-year, and delivered a record operating income of $12.4 billion, compared to $10.6 billion last year. Amazon’s advertising services revenue increased 23% to $21.31 billion, while subscription services revenue grew 14% to $13.12 billion.

Andy Jassy, Amazon’s President and CEO, said the momentum is coming from rapid innovation and a focus on solving customer problems.

However, Amazon shares fell nearly 11% in after-hours trading after the company indicated it expects to spend about $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, well above the $146 billion analysts were expecting. Jassy attributed the step-up to demand across core offerings and new bets, including AI:

“With such strong demand for our existing offerings and seminal opportunities like AI, chips, robotics, and low earth orbit satellites, we expect to invest about $200 billion in capital expenditures across Amazon in 2026, and anticipate strong long-term return on invested capital.”

Amazon isn’t the only Big Tech company ramping up capex this year. Alphabet is expected to spend $185 billion, Meta $125 billion, and Microsoft $110 billion.

Apple stands out as the exception, with capex expected to be around $13 billion. That lower spend is largely tied to Apple’s partnership with Google, including plans to use Gemini for next-generation foundation models, which could reduce the near-term need for Apple to build massive AI server infrastructure at the same scale as its rivals.

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