Amazon net sales surge 12% to $202B in Q3 as cloud unit accelerates

US e-commerce and technology giant Amazon reported a 12% year-on-year increase in net sales to $201.9 billion for the third quarter of 2026, driven by accelerating growth in its cloud computing division, the company announced on Thursday.

Net sales rose from $180.2 billion in the same period of 2025, or 13% excluding an unfavorable foreign exchange impact of $900 million.

Operating income jumped 61% to $28.1 billion in the July-September period from $17.4 billion a year earlier, lifting the operating margin to a record 13.9%.

Amazon Web Services net sales surged 39.3% year-on-year to $46 billion, marking its fastest growth pace in nearly five years and pushing its annualized revenue run rate to $184 billion.

AWS operating income climbed 55% to $17.8 billion from $11.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

In the retail business, North America segment sales grew 6% year-on-year to $112.9 billion, while international sales increased 5% to $43.1 billion, or 8% excluding currency fluctuations.

Net income slipped 2% to $20.7 billion, or $1.89 per diluted share, compared with $21.2 billion, or $1.95 per diluted share, a year earlier, primarily reflecting a $9.5 billion pre-tax gain from investments in AI firm Anthropic recorded in the third quarter of 2025.

"Our AWS investment in functionality and infrastructure is working, with over 39% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 and projected revenue growth rates of over 40% both in 2027 and in 2028," said Andy Jassy, president and chief executive of Amazon.

"There has never been a trillion dollar revenue business, and we may have two of them in the next 5-10 years," Jassy added.

For the fourth quarter of 2026, Amazon expects net sales between $240 billion and $247 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 12% to 16%.

Operating income in the final quarter of the year is projected between $28.5 billion and $33.5 billion, compared with $25 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The company reiterated that it expects cash capital expenditures for full-year 2026 to reach approximately $220 billion, driven primarily by investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure.