Amazon said it plans to spend $200 billion (£148bn) on capital expenditures such as data centres and processing equipment this year, a 50 percent increase over 2025 and far higher than the $150bn analysts had expected.

The company’s large spending projections are comparable to those from other big tech companies, such as Google, Meta and Microsoft, which are all seeking an edge over one another in the artificial intelligence market.

Amazon said it spent about $130bn on property and equipment in 2025, and said it was pursuing “seminal opportunities” including AI, chips, robotics, and low Earth orbit satellites for its Leo satellite broadband offering.

The company said it expects “strong long-term return” on the investments.

The investments will have a direct impact on profit, with Amazon projecting operating income in the current quarter of $16.5bn to $21.5bn, lower than analysts’ expectations of around $22.2bn.

Fourth-quarter revenue for the Amazon Web Services cloud unit rose 24 percent to $35.6bn with operating income of $12.5bn.

Investors are closely watching indicators such as cloud revenue compared to capital expenditures, as they try to determine when and how companies’ massive AI investments might pay off.

Google said last week that it is planning to roughly double its capital expenditures this year, as it reported a profit increase of 30 percent for Google Cloud in the fourth quarter of 2025.