Over the trailing twelve months, Amazon delivered an 11% total return, lagging behind peer giants such as Google at 78% and Microsoft at 14%. The company remains the largest in revenue scale, generating approximately $670 billion in the most recent fiscal year, but its operating margin of 11.4% and free cash flow margin of just over 2% continue to lag the high-margin software and ad-tech businesses of its competitors. Investors are closely watching any signs that improved AI integration or cost discipline could help narrow these profitability gaps.

Amazon Web Services announced it will extend its European ‘sovereign cloud’ footprint into Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal, adding to its existing data center in eastern Germany. The service offers local data storage, operations and governance to comply with tightening EU requirements on government access and digital sovereignty. Stephane Israel, AWS’s head of European Sovereign Cloud, said the move gives public-sector and regulated enterprises “complete control over their digital assets” while maintaining the performance and scale of a global cloud provider.

In a two-year collaboration with Rio Tinto, Amazon has become the first customer for copper produced using Nuton’s bioleaching technology at the Johnson Camp mine in Arizona. The agreement will supply roughly 30,000 tonnes of refined copper over four years, with Nuton output expected to account for nearly half of that volume. By using bacteria-assisted extraction, the process cuts the carbon footprint of copper production by around 60% and reduces water usage by 80%, supporting Amazon’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon by 2040 while ensuring a stable domestic supply for its rapidly growing U.S. data center network.