Can't Handle AI Demand: Amazon

Sales and Income Keep Growing

- Spencer Soper & Matt Day

AMAZON WARNED INVESTORS that it could face capacity constraints in its cloud computing division despite plans to invest some $100 billion this year, with most of the money going toward data centers, homegrown chips and other equipment to provide artificial intelligence services.

CEO Andy Jassy, determined for Amazon to become an AI supermarket, is spending big to retain the firm's edge in cloud computing services. Still, he warned growth would be "lumpy" and hinted Amazon could face capacity issues related to delays in getting hardware and not having sufficient electricity. "It is true we could be growing faster were it not for some of the constraints on capacity," Jassy said on a conference after the release of Q4 results.

The concerns echo those of rival Microsoft, which last week said its cloud sales growth was hurt because it didn't have enough data centers to handle demand for its AI products.