Amazon – Image by bluestork via Shutterstock
Cloud computing is set up for a very strong decade. The global cloud computing market is expected to reach about $1.9 trillion by 2030, growing at an estimated 18.7% compound annual rate. That pace is being driven largely by the accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning across industries.
As a result, the picture that emerges is clear. Enterprises are moving more core workloads into the cloud and are unlikely to reverse course. Demand for scalable cloud capacity, therefore, looks both large and durable over many years, rather than like a short-lived spike.
That brings the spotlight to Amazon (AMZN), which now looks far more entrenched in this shift than many investors realized. The company now controls roughly 900 cloud computing facilities across about 50 countries. That kind of scale helps explain its growing dominance in cloud-focused workloads.
Global spending on cloud computing is set to more than triple over the coming years, and Amazon already controls such a broad network of facilities. The real puzzle now is whether those 900 cloud facilities, and everything tied to them, are enough to make Amazon a buy. Let’s dive in.
Amazon’s Numbers Behind 900 Data Centers
Amazon runs a global e‑commerce, cloud, digital advertising, and logistics business that anchors consumer spending and enterprise computing, supported by a roughly $2.42 trillion market capitalization.
Amazon’s price action shows a year‑to‑date (YTD) gain of about 5%, a 52‑week return of 11%, and a recent share price of around $230 as of Nov. 26.
This scale comes with valuation metrics that sit well above sector averages, with a trailing P/E of around 31.96x and a forward P/E of 30.79x. It compares to sector medians of roughly 15.68x and 17.18x. This premium fits a business that is no longer viewed as just an online retailer.
The most recent earnings for the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, showed net sales rising 13% year-over-year (YoY) to about $180.2 billion. Revenue growth would have been roughly 12% if currency tailwinds were stripped out. That adjustment still points to broad, healthy demand across Amazon’s platforms.
From there, AWS stands out as a key engine, with segment sales climbing 20% to roughly $33 billion. That performance makes cloud and AI workloads central to the overall investment story. The report also showed AWS’s operating income improving to $11.4 billion from $10.4 billion.
On the bottom line, net income reached roughly $21.2 billion, or $1.95 per diluted share, versus $15.3 billion and $1.43 per share a year earlier. A pre‑tax gain of about $9.5 billion from the Anthropic investment added an extra boost on top of operating progress.
Looking at cash generation, trailing‑twelve‑month operating cash flow rose 16% to roughly $130.7 billion. That level of cash gives Amazon ample room to keep expanding its data center and AI capacity.
AI Contracts Backing Amazon’s 900 Sites
Amazon is leaning hard into AI infrastructure with a series of big, very specific commitments. The headline move is a $38 billion, seven‑year partnership with OpenAI, which secures priority access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia’s (NVDA) most advanced GPUs and the ability to scale further as workloads grow.
That kind of locked‑in demand gives clearer visibility on how much of Amazon’s future AI capacity will be spoken for. It also sends a signal that one of the most important AI model developers is willing to anchor long‑term compute on Amazon’s cloud.
Supporting this is a different kind of long‑duration deal at the infrastructure layer. Amazon Web Services has signed a transformative $5.5 billion, 15‑year lease agreement with Cipher Mining (CIFR), aimed directly at digital infrastructure powering AI workloads rather than just traditional crypto mining. The length and size of this contract stand out in 2025, even against a crowded backdrop of AI headlines. The structure effectively turns part of Amazon’s future power and real estate build‑out into a multi‑year revenue stream backed by a listed infrastructure partner.
There is also a clear regional expansion piece that ties back to where all this capacity will live. Amazon has committed $10 billion to expand cloud computing infrastructure in North Carolina, a project explicitly framed as part of the company’s push to capture more AI‑driven cloud market share.
Analysts Lean In on Amazon
Analyst expectations for Amazon are steadily climbing. For the current quarter ending December 2025, the average earnings estimate sits at $1.97 per share, up from $1.86 in the same quarter last year, which points to an expected growth rate of about 5.91% YoY. Zooming out to the full year makes the trend even clearer. Fiscal 2025 earnings are projected at $7.17 per share, a big jump from $5.53 in the prior year and an estimated 29.66% YoY growth rate.
The stance from Wall Street is very positive for a company of this size. Among the 57 analysts currently covering Amazon, the consensus rating sits at “Strong Buy.” The average 12‑month price target sits at $296.42, which works out to roughly 29% upside potential when you run the math.
Conclusion
Amazon has laid out a pretty straightforward setup here with rising earnings, heavy AI and data‑center spending, and a Street view that still sees meaningful upside from current levels. With estimates pointing to almost 30% EPS growth this year and a consensus “Strong Buy” stance from dozens of covering analysts, the risk-reward still looks attractive for patient investors who can handle normal market swings.
Over the next year, the most reasonable base case is that the shares drift gradually toward those average targets rather than breaking sharply lower, especially if AWS and AI numbers keep coming in close to plan.
On the date of publication, Ebube Jones did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
