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AWS accelerated its growth again, but Amazon raised its full-year capital expenditure to $220 billion and turned free cash flow negative over the past 12 months. Investors are willing to accept this account, provided that the computing power booked today can turn into revenue over the next two years. Amazon showed Wall Street a set of numbers that rarely appear simultaneously in the second quarter. AWS revenue grew 37% to $42.2 billion, the fastest growth in 18 quarters. Over the past 12 months, Amazon's operating cash flow grew 33% to $161.4 billion, while free cash flow turned from a positive $18.2 billion a year ago to a negative $7.6 billion. Chart | AWS's quarterly revenue growth recovered from a low of 12% in 2023 to 37%, reaching its fastest level in 18 quarters. Source: Fiscal.ai, Amazon. The company subsequently raised its 2026 cash capital expenditure plan from approximately $200 billion to $220 billion. After the earnings release, Amazon's stock price rose nearly 9% in after-hours trading. Chart | After the earnings release, Amazon's stock price surged nearly 9% in after-hours trading. Investors interpret capital expenditure increases more as demand visibility rather than loss of control over costs. | The market has not overlooked cash flow pressures. It chooses to believe that cash outflows occur before income. Amazon CEO Andy Jussi said during the conference call that companies typically start spending about two years before their data centers are launched. Land, power access, buildings, cooling, network, servers, and memory all need to be locked in advance. While the data center was still under construction, cash was already there