Can Amazon’s Business Pay For Its Spending?
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Amazon.com (AMZN) directed $215 billion toward capital spending over the twelve months ending September 2026, a significant increase from $54.7 billion three years earlier. Management attributed this spending primarily to AI and AWS, its cloud business.
How Big Is Amazon’s Spending Bill?
Over the last twelve months, capital spending consumed 27.0% of Amazon’s sales, up from 9.9% three years prior. The spending bill has increased dramatically, reaching 3.9 times its previous level. In the quarter ending September 2026, Amazon’s spending rose 120.1% year-over-year.
Can Amazon Pay For It?
During the quarter ending September 2026, Amazon’s spending exceeded its business revenue by a significant margin, with the bill consuming 182.1% of cash, compared to 98.8% in the same quarter a year earlier.
Here’s a breakdown of the last six quarters:
| Fiscal quarter | Capital spending | Cash the business brought in | Cash left over | |---|---|---|---| | Q2 FY2025 | $32.2 billion | $32.5 billion | $0.332 billion | | Q3 FY2025 | $35.1 billion | $35.5 billion | $0.430 billion | | Q4 FY2025 | $39.5 billion | $54.5 billion | $14.9 billion | | Q1 FY2026 | $44.2 billion | $26.0 billion | -$18.2 billion | | Q2 FY2026 | $54.2 billion | $45.4 billion | -$8.82 billion | | Q3 FY2026 | $77.3 billion | $42.4 billion | -$34.8 billion |
Each row represents a fiscal quarter.
Cash left over is calculated as cash brought in by the business minus capital spending.
Note: The spending does not include equipment acquired through leases.
Previously, Amazon had a surplus after the spending in the September quarter, but this time it resulted in a shortfall. This deficit was the largest in the six-quarter period, and the cash left over dipped below zero in three of the last four quarters. While a single quarter can be anomalous, over the full twelve months, the spending exceeded cash brought in by 127.9%.
Amazon still possesses substantial cash reserves: $114 billion in cash and short-term investments as of September 2026, against $272 billion in debt, down from $135 billion a year earlier.
What Has The Spending Bought So Far?
Amazon’s sales grew by 43.9% over the same three years, but the spending outpaced this growth. In total, Amazon spent $405 billion over these three years, and its business now generates $96.6 billion more cash annually than it did previously. At this rate, it would take approximately 4.2 years for the extra cash to offset the spending.
What Must Go Right For Amazon
Management attributes the spending to supporting strong customer demand, particularly at AWS, whose sales increased by 39.3% in the quarter ending September, the fastest growth in nearly five years. They anticipate approximately $220 billion of capital spending in 2026, with meaningful increases in 2027, aiming for "attractive financial returns." However, these are management’s projections, not realized results.
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