Amazon has announced plans to invest $200bn in artificial intelligence, robotics, and related technologies over the coming year, marking one of the largest single-year capital spending commitments yet in the intensifying AI race among global tech giants.

The announcement came just one day after the Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, said it would cut roughly a third of its workforce.

The spending pledge accompanied Amazon’s fourth-quarter earnings report, which showed strong revenue growth but fell slightly short of Wall Street expectations.

The company reported quarterly revenue of $213.4bn, up 14% from $187.8bn a year earlier. Net income reached $21.2bn, or $1.95 per share, compared with $20bn, or $1.86 per share, in the same period last year.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings of $1.97 per share on revenue of $211.4bn.

Capital spending set to surge beyond forecasts

Amazon plans to increase capital expenditure to $200bn this year, up from $125bn previously. Analysts had expected spending to rise to about $147bn.

“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,” chief executive Andy Jassy said in a statement.

Amazon reported its fastest growth in Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue in more than three years, with cloud sales rising 24% to $35.6bn. Advertising revenue also climbed sharply, increasing 22%, according to the company.

The results underline the company’s continued reliance on AWS and advertising to fuel profits as it expands its AI infrastructure.

Tech giants press ahead with AI spending

Amazon’s investment announcement adds to mounting evidence that major cloud-computing companies are pressing ahead with aggressive AI spending plans. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, and Meta are collectively expected to invest more than $630bn this year in artificial intelligence and related technologies.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and executive chair, has owned the Washington Post since purchasing it for $250m in 2013. He stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021 after nearly three decades leading the company.

Amazon stock, which accounts for the bulk of Bezos’s estimated $235bn net worth, fell nearly 9% in after-hours trading following the earnings report. Forbes estimated Bezos’s wealth declined by about $9bn, or 3.7%, after the announcement.