Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced record third-quarter earnings on Thursday, 30 October 2025, propelled by explosive growth in its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The results significantly surpassed analyst expectations, causing the company's stock to surge in after-hours trading. The performance underscores the accelerating global demand for artificial intelligence capabilities, a trend with direct relevance to Kenya's burgeoning digital economy.

The technology giant reported a 13% year-over-year increase in net sales for the third quarter, reaching $180.2 billion. Net income climbed to $21.2 billion, or $1.95 per diluted share, a substantial increase from $15.3 billion, or $1.43 per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier. This profit was significantly bolstered by a pre-tax gain of $9.5 billion from the company's investment in AI firm Anthropic.

The standout performer was AWS, which saw its revenues jump 20% year-over-year to $33.0 billion, its fastest growth rate since 2022. This re-acceleration is largely attributed to businesses globally racing to build and deploy AI applications, which require immense computational power provided by cloud platforms like AWS. Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, confirmed this trend during an investor call, stating, "We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure." The division's operating income for the quarter was $11.4 billion.

The Global Cloud and AI Arms Race

Amazon's results reflect a fierce industry-wide competition to dominate the AI and cloud computing landscape. Its primary rivals also reported strong growth in their cloud divisions for the same quarter. Microsoft's Azure and other cloud services revenue grew by approximately 40%, while Google Cloud posted a 34% increase in revenue to $15.2 billion. These figures highlight a massive wave of investment by corporations worldwide into AI infrastructure. According to Amazon, 85% to 90% of global IT spending remains on-premises, suggesting a vast runway for future cloud adoption as the shift accelerates.

This AI-driven boom is fuelling record capital expenditures. Amazon's spending on property and equipment saw a year-over-year increase of $50.9 billion, largely to build out AI-ready data centres. Similarly, Microsoft plans to double its data centre footprint within two years, and Alphabet, Google's parent company, has earmarked up to $93 billion for capital expenditures in 2025, primarily for data centres and AI capacity.

Implications for Kenya and East Africa

While these figures originate from global headquarters, their impact is increasingly local. The expansion of cloud services is a critical enabler for Kenya's digital transformation agenda, as outlined in government strategies like Vision 2030 and the National Digital Master Plan. In May 2025, Kenya's Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy launched the Kenya AI & Cloud Pioneer Initiative and a national Cloud Policy, mandating a 'cloud-first' strategy for all public entities to enhance efficiency and cybersecurity.

This policy pivot makes the growth of global cloud providers like AWS directly relevant. AWS has been actively investing in Sub-Saharan Africa, committing billions of dollars to expand its infrastructure, including its AWS Africa (Cape Town) Region launched in 2020. These investments are crucial for providing the low-latency, high-capacity computing resources necessary for Kenyan businesses and government agencies to adopt advanced technologies. According to a report by Public First, AI is projected to add $2.4 billion to Kenya's economy by 2030, with every $1 invested in technology expected to generate a $5 return.

Local enterprises are already leveraging this infrastructure. Safaricom's M-Pesa, for instance, runs operations on Huawei Cloud to process billions of transactions, while Konza Technopolis hosts numerous government applications from a Huawei-powered data centre. In May 2025, Safaricom partnered with iXAfrica to build East Africa's first AI-ready data centre, a move that directly complements the services offered by hyperscale providers like AWS.

The massive global investment in AI by Amazon and its competitors will likely accelerate the development and availability of new AI tools and services for Kenyan innovators, from agri-tech startups like Twiga Foods, which uses AI to optimize supply chains, to financial institutions deploying AI for fraud detection. As the backbone of this technological shift, the continued, robust growth of cloud computing is not just a story of corporate profits, but a foundational element of Kenya's future economic landscape.