Amazon will report fourth-quarter results on Thursday, capping a technology earnings season fixated on whether its heavy investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure will pay off. Investors will focus on Amazon Web Services (AWS), where consensus forecasts call for 21.6% year-over-year revenue growth. Last quarter, AWS growth helped propel overall operating income above estimates, despite a 25% year-over-year surge in capital expenditures to fund new data-center capacity. Management’s recent announcement of 16,000 job cuts—following a separate reduction of 14,000 headcount in October—underscores pressure to improve margins across both retail and cloud segments.

Nearly a year after its early-access preview, the AI-powered digital assistant Alexa+ is now available to all U.S. customers. The service, which debuted in March to a limited waitlist, can manage multi-step tasks such as calendar planning, restaurant bookings and smart-home coordination. For non-Prime customers, Amazon will charge $19.99 per month, while annual Prime members—who pay $139 per year—receive unlimited access at no extra cost. Early testing indicates that Alexa+ handles conversational queries with 40% fewer follow-up prompts than legacy versions, positioning it as a direct revenue driver beyond device sales.

Amazon is rolling out its next-generation Alexa built on large language models, while also negotiating specialized access to OpenAI’s latest systems to differentiate its cloud offerings. Internally, Amazon MGM Studios has begun piloting AI tools designed to accelerate editing, continuity checks and visual effects workflows, with broader deployment expected by year-end. This initiative aims to reduce production timelines by up to 30% and cut studio costs by an estimated $50 million annually once fully implemented.

Underpinning the cloud outlook, Amazon forecasts AWS capacity to double by 2027 to meet escalating demand for AI services. Analysts project AWS revenue will roughly double by 2028, driven by continued enterprise migrations and generative AI workloads. For the upcoming quarter, Amazon has guided net sales in a range of $206 billion to $213 billion, implying 10% to 13% growth versus the prior year. Consensus estimates anticipate earnings of $1.98 per share, marking a 6.5% increase year-over-year and setting a high bar for management to sustain its growth narrative.