Amazon pours $220 billion into AI data centers, risking cash flow for future growth

At an internal meeting, AWS CFO John Felton joked that Amazon’s AI expansion had made the firm cash-flow negative, a reversal from two years earlier. Executive Prasad Kalyanaraman confirmed the outlook, saying free cash flow will stay negative for several years as Amazon invests $220 billion this year in data-center capacity. The company is ordering roughly $5 billion of Nvidia GB300 racks in August and $3 billion each month thereafter, but many sites lack sufficient power, forcing hardware to sit in warehouses.

Delays in power, construction or permitting could keep billions of dollars of equipment idle, extending the cash-flow gap. Andy Jassy described AI as a "once-in-a-lifetime" chance and expects strong returns despite the upfront spend. Analysts note that grid constraints, labor shortages and regulatory hurdles add uncertainty to the timeline, while Amazon is negotiating power-capacity commitments in states such as Maryland and West Texas.