{{Short description|On-demand cloud computing provider}} {{Redirect|AWS}} {{Use American English|date=May 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox company | name = Amazon Web Services, Inc. | logo = Amazon_Web_Services_2025.svg | logocaption = | screenshot = | caption = | collapsible = | collapsetext = | website = {{URL|https://aws.amazon.com/}} | type = Subsidiary | industry = Web services, cloud computing | parent = Amazon | subsidiaries = {{plain list| * Annapurna Labs * AWS Elemental * NICE Software<ref>{{Cite web |title=NICE – an AWS Company |url=https://www.nice-software.com/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210218095203/https://www.nice-software.com/ |archive-date=February 18, 2021 |access-date=January 4, 2019 |website=nice-software.com |url-status=live }}</ref> * AWS Wickr }} | founded = {{plainlist| * {{start date and age|2002|07}}{{efn|Launched in July 2002, the Amazon Web Services platform exposes technology and product data from Amazon and its affiliates, enabling developers to build innovative and entrepreneurial applications on their own.<ref name="2002launch2006relaunch">{{cite web |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151015165250/http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=830816 |archive-date=October 15, 2015 |url-status=dead |url=https://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=830816 |title=Amazon – Press Room – Press Release |website=phx.corporate-ir.net |access-date=June 8, 2017}}</ref>}} (Web services) * {{start date and age|2006|03}}{{efn|In 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) began offering IT infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services — now commonly known as cloud computing.<ref name="amazon">{{cite web |url=http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/ |title=About AWS |date=September 2011 |access-date=May 16, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121005123855/http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/ |archive-date=October 5, 2012}}</ref>}} (Cloud computing) }} | revenue = {{increase}} US$128.7 billion (2025)<ref name="2025sales">{{cite press release|title=Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Results|publisher=Amazon|date=February 5, 2026|url=https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2026/Amazon-com-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-Results/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20260207154029/https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2026/Amazon-com-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-Results/ |archive-date=February 7, 2026|url-status=live}}</ref> | operating_income = {{increase}} US$45.6 billion (2025)<ref name="2025sales" /> | alexa = <!-- {{increase}} {{steady}} {{decrease}} [http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/example.com ##] (US/Global, MM/YYYY) --> | key_people = {{plainlist| * Matt Garman (CEO)<ref>{{Cite press release |title=AWS announces next CEO |url=https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/leadership-update-aws-adam-selipsky-matt-garman |date=May 14, 2024 |website=aboutamazon.com |url-status=live |access-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240514215357/https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/leadership-update-aws-adam-selipsky-matt-garman }}</ref> * C. J. Moses (CISO)<ref>{{cite web |last=Haranas |first=Mark |date=August 1, 2022 |title=AWS CISO On Why Its Security Strategy Tops Microsoft, Google |url=https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/aws-ciso-on-why-its-security-strategy-tops-microsoft-google |work=CRN |access-date=April 28, 2023 |archive-date=April 28, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230428030936/https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/aws-ciso-on-why-its-security-strategy-tops-microsoft-google |url-status=live }}</ref> }} | module = {{infobox network service provider|child=yes}} }}
'''Amazon Web Services, Inc.''' ('''AWS''') is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments, on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis.
Clients often use this in combination with autoscaling (a process that allows a client to use more computing in times of high application usage, and then scale down to reduce costs when there is less traffic). These cloud computing web services provide various services related to networking, compute, storage, middleware, IoT and other processing capacity, as well as software tools via AWS server farms. This frees clients from managing, scaling, and patching hardware and operating systems.
One of the foundational services is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which allows users to have at their disposal a virtual cluster of computers, with extremely high availability, which can be interacted with over the internet via REST APIs, a CLI or the AWS console. AWS's virtual computers emulate most of the attributes of a real computer, including hardware central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) for processing; local/RAM memory; hard-disk (HDD)/SSD storage; a choice of operating systems; networking; and pre-loaded application software such as web servers, databases, and customer relationship management (CRM).
AWS services are delivered to customers via a network of AWS server farms located throughout the world. Fees are based on a combination of usage (known as a "Pay-as-you-go" model), hardware, operating system, software, and networking features chosen by the subscriber requiring various degrees of availability, redundancy, security, and service options. Subscribers can pay for a single virtual AWS computer, a dedicated physical computer, or clusters of either.<ref name="AWSagreement" /> Amazon provides select portions of security for subscribers (e.g. physical security of the data centers) while other aspects of security are the responsibility of the subscriber (e.g. account management, vulnerability scanning, patching). AWS operates from many global geographical regions, including nine in North America.<ref name="GlobalInfrastructure">{{cite web|url = https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/ |title = AWS Global Infrastructure|access-date = October 20, 2025|archive-date = December 28, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131228053523/https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/ |url-status = live}} Updated as required.</ref>
Amazon markets AWS to subscribers as a way of obtaining large-scale computing capacity more quickly and cheaply than building an actual physical server farm.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-computing/ |title= What is Cloud Computing by Amazon Web Services | AWS|access-date= July 17, 2013|archive-date= December 25, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181225020202/https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-cloud-computing/ |url-status= live}}</ref> All services are billed based on usage, but each service measures usage in varying ways. As of 2023 Q1, AWS has 31% market share for cloud infrastructure while the next two competitors Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud have 25%, and 11% respectively, according to Synergy Research Group.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.srgresearch.com/articles/huge-cloud-market-sees-a-strong-bounce-in-growth-rate-for-the-second-consecutive-quarter |title=Huge Cloud Market Sees a Strong Bounce in Growth Rate for the Second Consecutive Quarter |date=Apr 30, 2024 |publisher=Synergy Research Group |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-date=May 15, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240515125047/https://www.srgresearch.com/articles/huge-cloud-market-sees-a-strong-bounce-in-growth-rate-for-the-second-consecutive-quarter |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Amazon Maintains Cloud Lead as Microsoft Edges Closer |url=https://www.statista.com/chart/18819/worldwide-market-share-of-leading-cloud-infrastructure-service-providers/ |last=Richter |first=Felix |work=Statista Daily Data |date=May 2, 2024 |access-date=October 12, 2020 |archive-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210104155008/https://www.statista.com/chart/18819/worldwide-market-share-of-leading-cloud-infrastructure-service-providers/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Services == {{Main|Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud|Amazon S3}}
{{As of|2025}} AWS comprises over 200<ref name="techradar">{{cite web|title=Cloud computing with AWS - section Products|url=https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-aws/ |website=aws.amazon.com|access-date=October 20, 2025|archive-date=May 26, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220526073248/https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-aws/ |url-status=live}}</ref> products and services including computing, storage, networking, database, analytics, application services, deployment, management, machine learning,<ref>{{Cite web|first=David|last=Mosca |date=April 14, 2021|title=Jersey City's ElectrifAi a leader in artificial intelligence software for business|url=https://www.nj.com/hudson/2021/04/jersey-citys-electrifai-a-leader-in-artificial-intelligence-software-for-business.html |access-date=April 21, 2021|website=nj|language=en|archive-date=April 30, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220430045718/https://www.nj.com/hudson/2021/04/jersey-citys-electrifai-a-leader-in-artificial-intelligence-software-for-business.html |url-status=live}}</ref> mobile, developer tools, RobOps and tools for the Internet of Things. The most popular include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Connect, and AWS Lambda (a serverless function that can perform arbitrary code written in any language that can be configured to be triggered by hundreds of events, including HTTP calls).<ref name="mostpopularservices">{{cite web|date=August 31, 2019|title=Top 10 AWS Services according to popularity|url=https://medium.com/faun/top-10-aws-services-according-to-popularity-bd78eea2f7a9 |website=medium.com|access-date=October 5, 2020|archive-date=October 12, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201012110202/https://medium.com/faun/top-10-aws-services-according-to-popularity-bd78eea2f7a9 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Services expose functionality through APIs for clients to use in their applications. These APIs are accessed over HTTP, using the REST architectural style and SOAP protocol for older APIs and exclusively JSON for newer ones. Clients can interact with these APIs in various ways, including from the AWS console (a website), by using SDKs written in various languages (such as Python, Java, and JavaScript), or by making direct REST calls.
== History == {{Further|Timeline of Amazon Web Services}}
===Founding (2000–2005) === thumb|right|upright=0.7|Early AWS "building blocks" logo
The genesis of AWS came in the early {{decade|2000}}. After building ''Merchant.com'', Amazon's e-commerce-as-a-service platform that offers third-party retailers a way to build their own web-stores, Amazon pursued service-oriented architecture as a means to scale its engineering operations,<ref name="horsemouth">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hbs.edu/forum-for-growth-and-innovation/podcasts/disruptive-voice/Pages/podcast-details.aspx?episode=15834284 |title=Forum for Growth & Innovation: Overcoming the Capitalist's Dilemma, with Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon Web Services |website=Harvard Business School |date=September 1, 2020 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210204142729/https://www.hbs.edu/forum-for-growth-and-innovation/podcasts/disruptive-voice/Pages/podcast-details.aspx?episode=15834284 |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=foraws>{{Cite news |title=Exclusive Profile: Andy Jassy of Amazon Web Service (AWS) And His Trillion Dollar Cloud Ambition |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/siliconangle/2015/01/28/andy-jassy-aws-trillion-dollar-cloud-ambition/?sh=2afd0029321e |date=January 28, 2015 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210203191032/https://www.forbes.com/sites/siliconangle/2015/01/28/andy-jassy-aws-trillion-dollar-cloud-ambition/?sh=66fdd76f321e |archive-date=February 3, 2021 |access-date=February 3, 2021 |work=Forbes |last1=Furrier |first1=John |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="tcaws">{{Cite news |title=How AWS came to be |url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/02/andy-jassys-brief-history-of-the-genesis-of-aws/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210121185947/https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/02/andy-jassys-brief-history-of-the-genesis-of-aws/ |date=July 2, 2016 |archive-date=January 21, 2021 |access-date=February 1, 2021 |last1=Miller |first1=Rob |publisher=TechCrunch |url-status=live }}</ref>{{r|crnaws}}<ref name="hilabs">{{Cite video |title=Fireside Chat with Michael Skok and Andy Jassy: The History of Amazon Web Services |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2dyGDqrXLo | archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/d2dyGDqrXLo| archive-date=2021-10-28|date=October 21, 2013 |access-date=February 9, 2021 | url-status=live |website=youtube.com |publisher=Harvard Business School }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="vdynamo">{{Cite web |title=Amazon DynamoDB – a Fast and Scalable NoSQL Database Service Designed for Internet Scale Applications |url=http://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2012/01/amazon-dynamodb.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130101200436/http://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2012/01/amazon-dynamodb.html |date=January 18, 2012 |archive-date=January 1, 2013 |last1=Vogels |first1=Werner |website=allthingsdistributed.com |access-date=March 15, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{r|vogels}} led by then CTO Allan Vermeulen.<ref name="brad">{{Cite book |title=The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yG3PAK6ZOucC |isbn=9781448127511 |year=2013 |publisher=Transworld |last1=Stone |first1=Brad |via=books.google.com |access-date=February 5, 2021 |archive-date=September 8, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230908060425/https://books.google.com/books?id=yG3PAK6ZOucC |url-status=live }}</ref>
Around the same time frame, Amazon was frustrated with the speed of its software engineering, and sought to implement various recommendations put forth by Matt Round, an engineering leader at the time, including maximization of autonomy for engineering teams, adoption of REST, standardization of infrastructure, removal of gate-keeping decision-makers (bureaucracy), and continuous deployment. He also called for increasing the percentage of the time engineers spent building the software rather than doing other tasks.<ref name="velocity"/> Amazon created "a shared IT platform" so its engineering organizations, which were spending 70% of their time on "undifferentiated heavy-lifting" such as IT and infrastructure problems, could focus on customer-facing innovation instead.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barr |first=Jeff |date=2006-09-27 |title=We Build Muck, So You Don't Have To |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/we_build_muck_s/ |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=AWS News Blog |language=en-US |archive-date=February 2, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240202161507/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/we_build_muck_s/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=aselip>{{Cite video |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=6PiyzyWXiIk&t=300 | archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/6PiyzyWXiIk| url-status=live | archive-date=2021-10-28|title=Amazon Web Services - Adam Selipsky at USI |publisher=USI Events |people=Adam Selipsky |language=en |time=5m |via=youtube.com |date=September 6, 2013 |access-date=March 9, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Besides, in dealing with unusual peak traffic patterns, especially during the holiday season, by migrating services to commodity Linux hardware and relying on open source software, Amazon's Infrastructure team, led by Tom Killalea,{{r|tompeak}} Amazon's first CISO,<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Former Amazon CISO Tom Killalea Joins Carbon Black Board |url=https://www.carbonblack.com/press-releases/former-amazon-ciso-tom-killalea-joins-carbon-black-board/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210314125756/https://www.carbonblack.com/press-releases/former-amazon-ciso-tom-killalea-joins-carbon-black-board/ |archive-date=March 14, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website=carbonblack.com |url-status=live }}</ref> had already run its data centers and associated services in a "fast, reliable, cheap" way.<ref name="tompeak">{{Cite web |title=LinuxWorld: Amazon's two faces present IT challenge |url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/2329864/linuxworld--amazon-s-two-faces-present-it-challenge.html |date=January 21, 2004 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210311112236/https://www.networkworld.com/article/2329864/linuxworld--amazon-s-two-faces-present-it-challenge.html |archive-date=March 11, 2021 |last1=Cowley |first1=Stacy |publisher=IDG News |via=networkworld.com |access-date=March 14, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In July 2002 Amazon.com Web Services, managed by Colin Bryar,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colin Bryar |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210205120106/https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinbryar/ |access-date=February 5, 2021 |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |website=linkedin.com |quote=Director, Amazon Associates and Amazon Web Services Programs. Dates Employed Mar 1998 – Jul 2003. Owned the overall P&L for the Amazon Associates (affiliate marketing) and one of the first public facing Amazon web service for developers, now called the Amazon Product API. Managed the software development, product management, and customer service teams for these two programs, spanning five countries. The Amazon Product API launch in July 2002 was the first commercial Amazon sdk that targeted third party developers to build applications on top of Amazon software platform. |url-status=live }}</ref> launched its first web services, opening up the Amazon.com platform to all developers.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Amazon.com Launches Web Services; Developers Can Now Incorporate Amazon.com Content and Features into Their Own Web Sites; Extends "Welcome Mat" for Developers |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210205114255/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazoncom-launches-web-services |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazoncom-launches-web-services |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |date=July 16, 2002 |agency=Amazon, Inc. |access-date=February 5, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> Over one hundred applications were built on top of it by 2004.<ref name="tomlinux">{{Cite web |title=Amazon lauds Linux infrastructure |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210311105019/https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240054229/Amazon-lauds-Linux-infrastructure |archive-date=March 11, 2021 |url=https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240054229/Amazon-lauds-Linux-infrastructure |date=January 22, 2004 |first1=Stacy |last1=Cowley |via=computerweekly.com |publisher=IDG News |access-date=March 14, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> This unexpected developer interest took Amazon by surprise and convinced them that developers were "hungry for more".{{r|aselip}}
By the summer of 2003, Andy Jassy had taken over Bryar's portfolio<ref name="working">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgn5DwAAQBAJ |title=Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon |last1=Bryar |first1=Colin |last2=Carr |first2=Bill |via=books.google.com |isbn=9781529033854 |year=2021 |publisher=Pan MacMillan |access-date=February 5, 2021 |archive-date=September 8, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230908060426/https://books.google.com/books?id=jgn5DwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> at Rick Dalzell's behest, after Vermeulen, who was Bezos' first pick, declined the offer.{{r|brad}} Jassy subsequently mapped out the vision for an "Internet OS"{{r|horsemouth}}{{r|tcaws}}{{r|hilabs}}<ref name="telaws">{{Cite news |title=Goliath vs Goliath...Amazon takes on Apple and Google |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9770827/Goliath-vs-Goliath...Amazon-takes-on-Apple-and-Google.html |date=December 30, 2012 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210204145626/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9770827/Goliath-vs-Goliath...Amazon-takes-on-Apple-and-Google.html |archive-date=February 4, 2021 |access-date=February 4, 2021 |publisher=The Daily Telegraph |last1=Rushton |first1=Katherine |url-status=live }}</ref> made up of foundational infrastructure primitives that alleviated key impediments to shipping software applications faster.{{r|horsemouth}}{{r|foraws}}{{r|tcaws}}{{r|hilabs}}{{r|vogels}} By fall 2003,{{r|horsemouth}}{{r|tcaws}} databases, storage, and compute were identified as the first set of infrastructure pieces that Amazon should launch.{{r|horsemouth}}{{r|tcaws}}{{r|aselip}}
Jeff Barr, an early AWS employee, credits himself, Vermeulen, Jassy, Bezos, and a few others for coming up with the idea that would evolve into EC2, S3, and RDS;<ref>{{Cite web |title=15 Years of AWS Blogging! |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/15-years-of-aws-blogging/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210205130051/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/15-years-of-aws-blogging/ |date=November 11, 2019 |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |access-date=February 5, 2021 |website=aws.amazon.com |last1=Barr |first1=Jeff |url-status=live }}</ref> Jassy recalls the idea was the result of brainstorming for about a week with "ten of the best technology minds and ten of the best product management minds" on about ten different internet applications and the most primitive building blocks required to build them.{{r|hilabs}} Werner Vogels cites Amazon's desire to make the process of "invent, launch, reinvent, relaunch, start over, rinse, repeat" as fast as it could was leading them to break down organizational structures with "two-pizza teams"{{efn|A team should not be any bigger than could be fed with two pizzas.<ref>{{Cite web |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210314120946/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/24/the-two-pizza-rule-and-the-secret-of-amazons-success |title=The two-pizza rule and the secret of Amazon's success |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/24/the-two-pizza-rule-and-the-secret-of-amazons-success |date=April 24, 2018 |archive-date=March 14, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website=theguardian.com |last1=Hern |first1=Alex |url-status=live }}</ref>}} and application structures with distributed systems;{{efn|Larger software applications broken down in to smaller services.<ref name="velocity">{{Cite magazine |title=Velocity in Software Engineering |volume=17 |issue=3 |magazine=ACM Queue |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210312233823/https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3352692 |url=https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3352692 |date=July 29, 2019 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-date=March 12, 2021 |first1=Tom |last1=Killalea |url-status=live }}</ref>}} and that these changes ultimately paved way for the formation of AWS<ref name="vogels">{{Cite web |title=Modern applications at AWS |archive-url= https://archive.today/20190914172155/https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2019/08/modern-applications-at-aws.html |archive-date=September 14, 2019 |url=https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2019/08/modern-applications-at-aws.html |date=August 28, 2019 |first1=Werner |last1=Vogels |website=allthingsdistributed.com |access-date=March 9, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> and its mission "to expose all of the atomic-level pieces of the Amazon.com platform".<ref>{{Cite web |title=S3 - The Amazon Simple Storage Service |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210313203543/https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2006/03/s3.html |url=https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2006/03/s3.html |date=March 13, 2006 |archive-date=March 13, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website=allthingsdistributed.com |last1=Vogels |first1=Werner |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Brewster Kahle, co-founder of Alexa Internet, which was acquired by Amazon in 1999, his start-up's compute infrastructure helped Amazon solve its big data problems and later informed the innovations that underpinned AWS.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What I Learned from Jeff Bezos: How to Bring Millions of Books to Billions of People |url=https://www.macfound.org/press/semifinalist-perspectives/what-i-learned-jeff-bezos-aka-how-bring-millions-books-billions-people/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170802040741/https://www.macfound.org/press/semifinalist-perspectives/what-i-learned-jeff-bezos-aka-how-bring-millions-books-billions-people/ |url-status=dead |date=August 1, 2017 |archive-date=August 2, 2017 }} * {{cite web |first=Brewster |last=Kahle |date=Aug 2, 2017 |title=What I Learned from Jeff Bezos: aka–How to Bring Millions of Books to Billions of People |url=https://macfound.medium.com/what-i-learned-from-jeff-bezos-aka-how-to-bring-millions-of-books-to-billions-of-people-445a89ebd7fb |website=Medium |access-date=March 14, 2021 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210415144216/https://macfound.medium.com/what-i-learned-from-jeff-bezos-aka-how-to-bring-millions-of-books-to-billions-of-people-445a89ebd7fb |url-status=live }}</ref>
Jassy assembled a founding team of 57 employees from a mix of engineering and business backgrounds to kick-start these initiatives,{{r|hilabs}}<ref name="crnaws">{{cite news|title=Andy Jassy: Amazon's $6 Billion Man|url=http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/300077657/andy-jassy-amazons-6-billion-man.htm |last=McLaughlin |first=Kevin |date=August 4, 2015 |publisher=CRN |access-date=October 12, 2017 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210203122831/https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/300077657/andy-jassy-amazons-6-billion-man.htm |archive-date=February 3, 2021}}</ref> with a majority of the hires coming from outside the company.{{r|hilabs}} They included Jeff Lawson, the Twilio CEO;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twilio CEO Lawson: A Lesson From Amazon's Bezos |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210312231531/https://www.barrons.com/articles/twilio-ceo-lawson-a-lesson-from-amazons-bezos-1488424640 |archive-date=March 12, 2021 |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/twilio-ceo-lawson-a-lesson-from-amazons-bezos-1488424640 |date=March 1, 2017 |last1=Ray |first1=Tiernan |website=barrons.com |access-date=March 14, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> Adam Selipsky, the Tableau CEO;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Adam Selipsky, sales and marketing head at Amazon Web Services, leaving company |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2016/adam-selipsky-sales-marketing-head-amazon-web-services-reportedly-leaving-company/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210314122430/https://www.geekwire.com/2016/adam-selipsky-sales-marketing-head-amazon-web-services-reportedly-leaving-company/ |date=August 15, 2016 |archive-date=March 14, 2021 |last1=Richman |first1=Dan |website=geekwire.com |access-date=March 14, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tableau CEO lured from Amazon AWS with millions in cash, stock options |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2016/11/07/tableau-ceo-amazon-adam-selipsky-cloud-computing.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210314122148/https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2016/11/07/tableau-ceo-amazon-adam-selipsky-cloud-computing.html |date=November 7, 2016 |archive-date=March 14, 2021 |last1=Coombs |first1=Casey |publisher=Puget Sound Business Journal |via=bizjournals.com |access-date=March 14, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> and Mikhail Seregine,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Startups Aren't Dead, Says ClayValet Founder in Wake of Shutdown |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210408161047/https://xconomy.com/seattle/2008/10/29/startups-arent-dead-says-clayvalet-founder-in-wake-of-shutdown/ |archive-date=April 8, 2021 |url=https://xconomy.com/seattle/2008/10/29/startups-arent-dead-says-clayvalet-founder-in-wake-of-shutdown/ |date=October 29, 2008 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |last1=Gregory |first1=Huang |website=xconomy.com |location=Seattle |url-status=live }}</ref> a co-founder at Outschool.
In late 2003, the concept for compute,{{efn|code-named ''Amazon Execution Service'' in the pre-launch phase.<ref>{{cite web |title=Happy 15th Birthday Amazon EC2 |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/happy-15th-birthday-amazon-ec2/ |archive-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210824035659/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/happy-15th-birthday-amazon-ec2/ |date=23 August 2021 |first=Barr |last=Jeff |website=AWS News Blog}}</ref>}} which would later launch as EC2, was reformulated when Chris Pinkham and Benjamin Black presented a paper internally describing a vision for Amazon's retail computing infrastructure that was completely standardized, completely automated, and would rely extensively on web services for services such as storage and would draw on internal work already underway. Near the end of their paper, they mentioned the possibility of selling access to virtual servers as a service, proposing the company could generate revenue from the new infrastructure investment.<ref name="PinkhamBlack2003Paper">{{cite web |url=http://blog.b3k.us/2009/01/25/ec2-origins.html |title=Benjamin Black– EC2 Origins |publisher=Blog.b3k.us |date=January 25, 2009 |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-date=June 3, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130603051226/http://blog.b3k.us/2009/01/25/ec2-origins.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=February 2021}} Thereafter Pinkham, Willem van Biljon, and lead developer Christopher Brown developed the Amazon EC2 service, with a team in Cape Town, South Africa.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bort |first1=Julie |title=Amazon's Game-Changing Cloud Was Built By Some Guys In South Africa |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-game-changing-cloud-was-built-by-some-guys-in-south-africa-2012-3 |website=Business Insider |access-date=June 25, 2021 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130119102209/http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-game-changing-cloud-was-built-by-some-guys-in-south-africa-2012-3 |archive-date=January 19, 2013 |date=March 28, 2012 |url-status=unfit}}<!-- url appears to work but may block expected content -->{{cbignore}}</ref>
In November 2004, AWS launched its first infrastructure service for public usage: Simple Queue Service (SQS).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2004/11/amazon_simple_q.html |title=Amazon Web Services Blog: Amazon Simple Queue Service Beta |website=aws.typepad.com |date=November 9, 2004 |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041217191947/http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2004/11/amazon_simple_q.html |archive-date=December 17, 2004}}</ref>
=== S3, EC2, and other first-generation services (2006–2010) === {{missing information|section|SimpleDB, MechanicalTurk, Elastic Beanstalk, Relational Database Service, DynamoDB, CloudWatch, Simple Workflow, CloudFront, and Availability Zones|date=March 2021}}<!-- missing MechanicalTurk, SimpleDB, RDS, DynamoDB, BeanStalk, CloudWatch, SWF, CloudFront, AvailabilityZone launch and others --> thumb|right|upright=0.6|alt=Logo|Amazon Elastic Block Store On March 14, 2006, AWS launched Amazon S3 cloud storage<ref name=pieday>{{Cite press release |title=Amazon Web Services Launches |agency=Amazon, Inc. |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-web-services-launches-amazon-s3-simple-storage-service |access-date=February 5, 2021 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210205114227/https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-web-services-launches-amazon-s3-simple-storage-service |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> followed by EC2 in August 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2006-11-12/jeff-bezos-risky-bet|title=Jeff Bezos' Risky Bet|newspaper=Bloomberg }}</ref><ref name=ec2l>{{Cite web |title=Amazon EC2 Beta |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon_ec2_beta/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210205151843/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/amazon_ec2_beta/ |date=August 25, 2006 |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |website=aws.amazon.com |last1=Barr |first1=Jeff |access-date=February 5, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> Pi Corporation, a startup Paul Maritz co-founded, was the first beta-user of EC2 outside of Amazon,{{r|hilabs}} while Microsoft was among EC2's first enterprise customers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Computing in the cloud |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210310175735/https://www.computerworld.com/article/2549084/computing-in-the-cloud.html |date=December 26, 2006 |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2549084/computing-in-the-cloud.html |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |publisher=Computer World |last1=Gralla |first1=Preston |url-status=live }}</ref> Later that year SmugMug, one of the early AWS adopters, attributed savings of around US$400,000 in storage costs to S3.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amazon's New Direction |url=https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/10/01/8387086/index.htm |date=March 15, 2007 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210310185758/https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/10/01/8387086/index.htm |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website= |last1=Kelleher |first1=Kevin |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Vogels, S3 was built with 8 microservices when it launched in 2006 and had over 300 microservices by 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amazon CTO on Past, Present, Future of S3 |url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2021/04/22/amazon-cto-on-past-present-future-of-s3/ |date=22 April 2021 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20220120141347/https://www.nextplatform.com/2021/04/22/amazon-cto-on-past-present-future-of-s3/ |archive-date=20 January 2022 |publisher=The Next Platform |last=Hemsoth |first=Nicole}}</ref>
In September 2007, AWS announced its annual ''Start-up Challenge'', a contest with prizes worth $100,000 for entrepreneurs and software developers in the US using AWS services such as S3 and EC2 to build their businesses.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Announcing the Amazon Web Services Start-up Challenge |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/announcing-the-2/ |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210325144237/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/announcing-the-2/ |archive-date=March 25, 2021 |date=September 12, 2007 |last1=Barr |first1=Jeff |website=aws.amazon.com |access-date=March 25, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first edition saw participation from Justin.tv,{{r|schall1}} which Amazon later acquired in 2014.<ref name="acqtwi">{{Cite news |title=Amazon's $970 million purchase of Twitch makes so much sense now - it's all about the cloud |url=https://www.businessinsider.in/amazons-970-million-purchase-of-twitch-makes-so-much-sense-now-its-all-about-the-cloud/articleshow/51434468.cms |date=March 17, 2016 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210323211947/https://www.businessinsider.in/amazons-970-million-purchase-of-twitch-makes-so-much-sense-now-its-all-about-the-cloud/articleshow/51434468.cms |archive-date=March 23, 2021 |work=Business Insider |last1=Weinberger |first1=Matt |url-status=live }}</ref> Ooyala, an online media company,<ref>{{Cite news |title=Where does Google go next? |url=http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/09/technology/where_does_google_go.fortune/index.htm |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130119095944/http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/09/technology/where_does_google_go.fortune/index.htm |date=May 12, 2008 |archive-date=January 19, 2013 |last1=Lashinsky |first1=Adam |publisher=CNN |access-date=March 25, 2021 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was the eventual winner.<ref name=schall1>{{Cite web |title=And the Winner is... |url=https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2007/12/and_the_winner_is.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210325144945/https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2007/12/and_the_winner_is.html |archive-date=March 25, 2021 |date=December 6, 2007 |last1=Vogels |first1=Werner |website=allthingsdistributed.com |access-date=March 25, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>
AWS offers, {{as of|2022|06|16|df=mdy|lc=y}}, two block-storage options: the EC2 Instance Store and the {{vanchor|Elastic Block Store (EBS)}}.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://riyanchristy.goseeq.net/ec2-instance-store-vs-ebs/ | title=EC2 Instance Store vs EBS | date=May 31, 2022 | work=RiyanChristy.GoSeeq.net | access-date=June 16, 2022 | archive-date=June 16, 2022 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220616144124/https://riyanchristy.goseeq.net/ec2-instance-store-vs-ebs/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> Some Amazon EBS features that help with data management, backups, and performance tuning include: * EBS volume tagging to allow the user to find and filter EBS resources on the Amazon Console and CLI.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sandhill.com/article/7-little-known-amazon-ebs-features-you-should-be-using/ |title=7 Little-Known Amazon EBS Features You Should Be Using |work=Sand Hill| date=January 17, 2020 |url-status= live |access-date= Sep 11, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200127200915/http://sandhill.com:80/article/7-little-known-amazon-ebs-features-you-should-be-using/ |archive-date=2020-01-27 }}</ref> * Software-level RAID arrays to enable creation of groups of EBS volumes with high performance network throughput between them, using the standard RAID protocol.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://cloud.netapp.com/blog/ebs-volumes-5-lesser-known-functions |title=AWS EBS: A Complete Guide and Five Functions You Should Start Using |work= Cloud Central Blog| date=June 4, 2019|url-status= live |access-date= Sep 11, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170726122530/https://cloud.netapp.com/blog/ebs-volumes-5-lesser-known-functions |archive-date=2017-07-26 }}</ref>
Additional AWS services from this period include SimpleDB, Mechanical Turk, Elastic Beanstalk, Relational Database Service, DynamoDB, CloudWatch, Simple Workflow, CloudFront, and Availability Zones.
=== Growth (2010–2015) === thumb|right|AWS Summit 2013 event in NYC
In November 2010, it was reported that all of Amazon.com's retail sites had migrated to AWS.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slideshare.net/AmazonWebServices/2011-aws-tour-australia-closing-keynote-how-amazoncom-migrated-to-aws-by-jon-jenkins |title=2011 AWS Tour Australia, Closing Keynote: How Amazon.com migrated to AWS, by Jon Jenkins |publisher=Amazon Web Services |date=July 14, 2011 |access-date=December 16, 2013 |archive-date=August 30, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200830043536/https://www.slideshare.net/AmazonWebServices/2011-aws-tour-australia-closing-keynote-how-amazoncom-migrated-to-aws-by-jon-jenkins |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior to 2012, AWS was considered a part of Amazon.com and so its revenue was not delineated in Amazon financial statements. In that year industry watchers for the first time estimated AWS revenue to be over $1.5 billion.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wikibon.org/wiki/v/Cloud_Computing_2013%3A_The_Amazon_Gorilla_Invades_the_Enterprise |title=Cloud Computing 2013: The Amazon Gorilla Invades The Enterprise |publisher=Wikibon |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023829/http://wikibon.org/wiki/v/Cloud_Computing_2013:_The_Amazon_Gorilla_Invades_the_Enterprise |url-status=live }}</ref>
On November 27, 2012, AWS hosted its first major annual conference, ''re:Invent'' with a focus on AWS's partners and ecosystem,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Will Address Cloud Partners at AWS re:Invent |url=https://www.channelfutures.com/business-models/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-will-address-cloud-partners-at-aws-reinvent |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210310184702/https://www.channelfutures.com/business-models/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-will-address-cloud-partners-at-aws-reinvent |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |website=channelfutures.com |date=November 19, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> with over 150 sessions.<ref name="freinventblog">{{Cite web |title=Get Ready to Register for AWS re:Invent |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/get-ready-to-register-for-aws-reinvent/ |date=July 17, 2012 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210310192937/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/get-ready-to-register-for-aws-reinvent/ |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |website=aws.amazon.com |first1=Jeff |last1=Barr |access-date=March 10, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> The three-day event was held in Las Vegas because of its relatively cheaper connectivity with locations across the United States and the rest of the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AWS re:Invent - Why Attend? |url=http://awsmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/AWS_re_Invent_Why_Attend.pdf |date= |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210310192122/http://awsmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/AWS_re_Invent_Why_Attend.pdf |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |website=awsmedia.s3.amazonaws.com |access-date=March 10, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> Andy Jassy and Werner Vogels presented keynotes, with Jeff Bezos joining Vogels for a fireside chat.{{r|net1}} AWS opened early registrations at US$1,099 per head for their customers{{r|freinventblog}} from over 190 countries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AWS re:Invent |url=https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2012/05/aws-reinvent.html |date=May 9, 2012 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210310190354/https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2012/05/aws-reinvent.html |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |website=allthingsdistributed.com |first1=Werner |last1=Vogels |access-date=March 10, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref> On stage with Andy Jassy at the event which saw around 6000 attendees, Reed Hastings, CEO at Netflix, announced plans to migrate 100% of Netflix's infrastructure to AWS.<ref name=net1>{{Cite web |title=AWS Re:Invent was Awesome! |url=https://netflixtechblog.com/aws-re-invent-was-awesome-280c29ec00cc |date=December 3, 2012 |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |access-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210310191215/https://netflixtechblog.com/aws-re-invent-was-awesome-280c29ec00cc |website=netflixtechblog.com |first1=Adrian |last1=Crockcroft |url-status=live }}</ref>
To support industry-wide training and skills standardization, AWS began offering a certification program for computer engineers, on April 30, 2013, to highlight expertise in cloud computing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/2036960/amazon-web-services-launches-new-certification-program.html |title=AWS began offering a certification program for computer engineers with expertise in cloud computing. |publisher=www.pcworld.com |date=May 1, 2013 |access-date=November 8, 2013 |archive-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201125025109/https://www.pcworld.com/article/2036960/amazon-web-services-launches-new-certification-program.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Later that year, in October, AWS launched ''Activate'', a program for start-ups worldwide to leverage AWS credits, third-party integrations, and free access to AWS experts to help build their business.<ref>{{Cite news |title='The first one's free, kid.' Amazon launches AWS Activate to get startups hooked |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210323225325/https://venturebeat.com/2013/10/11/the-first-ones-free-kid-amazon-launches-aws-activate-to-get-startups-hooked/ |url=https://venturebeat.com/2013/10/11/the-first-ones-free-kid-amazon-launches-aws-activate-to-get-startups-hooked/ |date=October 11, 2013 |archive-date=March 23, 2021 |last1=O'Dell |first1=J |publisher=Venture Beat |access-date=March 25, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2014, AWS launched its partner network, AWS Partner Network (APN), which is focused on helping AWS-based companies grow and scale the success of their business with close collaboration and best practices.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/apn-blog-launch/ |title=Announcing the Launch of the AWS Partner Network (APN) Blog|date=November 21, 2014|website=Amazon Web Services|language=en-US|access-date=February 5, 2020|archive-date=August 17, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200817120126/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/apn-blog-launch/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=EdgeIQ Orchestration for AWS|url=https://aws.amazon.com/iot/partner-solutions/edgeiq-orchestration/ |access-date=October 9, 2020|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|language=en-US|archive-date=November 1, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201101003943/https://aws.amazon.com/iot/partner-solutions/edgeiq-orchestration/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
In January 2015, Amazon Web Services acquired Annapurna Labs, an Israel-based microelectronics company for a reported US$350–370M.<ref name="reut_Amaz">{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-annapurna-m-a-amazon-com-idUSKBN0KV0SG20150122 |title=Amazon to buy Israeli start-up Annapurna Labs|work=Reuters|date=January 22, 2015|access-date=January 24, 2015|archive-date=September 15, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150915065319/http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/22/us-annapurna-m-a-amazon-com-idUSKBN0KV0SG20150122 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="extr_Amaz">{{Cite web|url=http://www.extremetech.com/computing/198140-amazon-buys-secretive-chip-maker-annapurna-labs-for-350-million |title=Amazon buys secretive chip maker Annapurna Labs for $350 million|work=ExtremeTech|date=January 23, 2015 |access-date=January 24, 2015|archive-date=December 14, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201214090126/https://www.extremetech.com/computing/198140-amazon-buys-secretive-chip-maker-annapurna-labs-for-350-million |url-status=live}}</ref>
In April 2015, Amazon.com reported AWS was profitable, with sales of $1.57 billion in the first quarter of the year and $265 million of operating income. Founder Jeff Bezos described it as a fast-growing $5 billion business; analysts described it as "surprisingly more profitable than forecast".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32442268 |title=Amazon web services 'growing fast'|work=BBC News|date=April 24, 2015|access-date=June 21, 2018|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201108100958/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32442268 |url-status=live}}</ref> In October, Amazon.com said in its Q3 earnings report that AWS's operating income was $521 million, with operating margins at 25 percent. AWS's 2015 Q3 revenue was $2.1 billion, a 78% increase from 2014's Q3 revenue of $1.17 billion.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/2015/10/get-used-to-amazon-being-a-profitable-company/ Get Used to Amazon Being a Profitable Company] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224230830/https://www.wired.com/2015/10/get-used-to-amazon-being-a-profitable-company/ |date=December 24, 2020 }} Wired. October 22, 2015.</ref> 2015 Q4 revenue for the AWS segment increased 69.5% y/y to $2.4 billion with a 28.5% operating margin, giving AWS a $9.6 billion run rate. In 2015, Gartner estimated that AWS customers are deploying 10x more infrastructure on AWS than the combined adoption of the next 14 providers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-2G2O5FC&ct=150519&st=sb |title=Gartner Reprint|website=www.gartner.com|access-date=April 6, 2016|archive-date=November 19, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201119135425/https://www.gartner.com/doc/reprints?id=1-2G2O5FC&ct=150519&st=sb |url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Since 2016 ===
In 2016 Q1, revenue was $2.57 billion with net income of $604 million, a 64% increase over 2015 Q1 that resulted in AWS being more profitable than Amazon's North American retail business for the first time.<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2016/4/28/11530336/amazon-q1-first-quarter-2016-earnings Amazon's earnings soar as its hardware takes the spotlight] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201112194106/https://www.theverge.com/2016/4/28/11530336/amazon-q1-first-quarter-2016-earnings |date=November 12, 2020 }} The Verge, Retrieved April 28, 2016.</ref> Jassy was thereafter promoted to CEO of the division.<ref name="CEO Andy Jassy">{{cite web|last1=Jordan|first1=Novet|title=Andy Jassy is finally named CEO of Amazon Web Services|url=https://venturebeat.com/2016/04/07/andy-jassy-is-finally-named-ceo-of-amazon-web-services/ |website=venturebeat.com|date=April 7, 2016|access-date=July 26, 2016|archive-date=February 3, 2021|archive-url= https://archive.today/20210203123143/https://venturebeat.com/2016/04/07/andy-jassy-is-finally-named-ceo-of-amazon-web-services/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Around the same time, Amazon experienced a 42% rise in stock value as a result of increased earnings, of which AWS contributed 56% to corporate profits.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-amazon-stock-is-up-42-percent-in-just-3-months-web-services-and-profitability-181247737.html |title=Here's why Amazon stock is up 42% in just 3 months|first=Daniel|last=Roberts|date=May 24, 2016|publisher=Yahoo Finance|access-date=January 15, 2017|archive-date=July 25, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200725042900/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-amazon-stock-is-up-42-percent-in-just-3-months-web-services-and-profitability-181247737.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
AWS had $17.46 billion in annual revenue in 2017.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/01/aws-earnings-q4-2017.html |title=Amazon cloud revenue jumps 45 percent in fourth quarter|first=Jordan|last=Novet |website=CNBC|date=February 1, 2018|access-date=February 25, 2018|archive-date=November 12, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201112184852/https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/01/aws-earnings-q4-2017.html |url-status=live}}</ref> By the end of 2020, the number had grown to $46 billion.<ref name="2020sales">{{Cite web |title=Exclusive with AWS chief Andy Jassy: The wakeup call for cloud adoption |url=https://siliconangle.com/2020/11/30/exclusive-aws-chief-andy-jassy-wakeup-call-cloud-adoption/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210215113050/https://siliconangle.com/2020/11/30/exclusive-aws-chief-andy-jassy-wakeup-call-cloud-adoption/ |date=November 30, 2020 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |last1=Furrier |first1=John |access-date=February 18, 2021 |website= |url-status=live }}</ref> Reflecting the success of AWS, Jassy's annual compensation in 2017 hit nearly $36 million.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/aws-ceo-andrew-jassys-2016-pay-hits-35-6-million.html |title=AWS CEO Andrew Jassy's 2016 pay hits $35.6 million|first=Anita|last=Balakrishnan |date=April 12, 2017|website=cnbc.com|access-date=June 8, 2017|archive-date=February 24, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200224062814/https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/aws-ceo-andrew-jassys-2016-pay-hits-35-6-million.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
In January 2018, Amazon launched a unified autoscaling service on AWS.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/17/amazon-launches-autoscaling-service-on-aws/ |title=Amazon launches autoscaling service on AWS|last=Miller|first=Ron |work=TechCrunch|access-date=January 18, 2018|language=en|archive-date=August 17, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200817200137/https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/17/amazon-launches-autoscaling-service-on-aws/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-auto-scaling-unified-scaling-for-your-cloud-applications/ |title=New AWS Auto Scaling – Unified Scaling For Your Cloud Applications {{!}} Amazon Web Services|date=January 16, 2018|work=Amazon Web Services|access-date=January 18, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=November 19, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201119163531/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-auto-scaling-unified-scaling-for-your-cloud-applications/|url-status=live}}</ref> This new service unifies and builds on AWS existing, service-specific, scaling features like EC2 Auto Scaling groups, that was launched in August 2006.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://techcrunch.com/2006/08/24/exclusive-amazon-readies-utility-computing-service/|title = Almost Exclusive: Amazon Readies Utility Computing Service|last = Cubrilovic|first = Nik|date = August 24, 2006|accessdate = December 4, 2016|work = TechCrunch|archive-date = September 25, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190925091239/https://techcrunch.com/2006/08/24/exclusive-amazon-readies-utility-computing-service/ |url-status = live}}</ref>
In November 2018, AWS announced customized ARM cores for use in its servers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/27/aws-launches-arm-based-servers-for-ec2/ |title=AWS launches Arm-based servers for EC2|work=TechCrunch|access-date=November 27, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=December 4, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201204091200/https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/27/aws-launches-arm-based-servers-for-ec2/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Also in November 2018, AWS created ground stations to communicate with customers' satellites.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/27/aws-launches-a-base-station-for-satellites-as-a-service/ |title=AWS launches a base station for satellites as a service|work=TechCrunch|access-date=November 28, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=November 10, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201110112631/https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/27/aws-launches-a-base-station-for-satellites-as-a-service/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2019, AWS reported 37% yearly growth and accounted for 12% of Amazon's revenue (up from 11% in 2018).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/02/06/amazons-record-2019-in-7-metrics.aspx |title=Amazon's Record 2019 in 7 Metrics|last=Sparks|first=Daniel |date=February 6, 2020|website=The Motley Fool|language=en|access-date=February 11, 2020|archive-date=December 1, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201201033432/https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/02/06/amazons-record-2019-in-7-metrics.aspx |url-status=live}}</ref>
In April 2021, AWS reported 32% yearly growth and accounted for 32% of $41.8 billion cloud market in Q1 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bicheno|first=Scott |date=April 30, 2021|title=AWS accounted for a third of $42 billion cloud market in Q1 2021|work=telecoms.com|url=https://telecoms.com/509588/aws-accounted-for-a-third-of-42-billion-cloud-market-in-q1-2021/ |access-date=May 1, 2021|archive-date=April 30, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210430103715/https://telecoms.com/509588/aws-accounted-for-a-third-of-42-billion-cloud-market-in-q1-2021/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
In January 2022, AWS joined the MACH Alliance, a non-profit enterprise technology advocacy group.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Roy |last=Edwards |url=https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2022/01/21/aws-joins-mach-alliance/ |title=AWS Joins MACH Alliance |date=2022-01-21 |website=enterprise times |language=en |access-date=2023-01-26 |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205122514/https://www.enterprisetimes.co.uk/2022/01/21/aws-joins-mach-alliance/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In June 2022, it was reported that in 2019 Capital One had not secured their AWS resources properly, and was subject to a data breach by a former AWS employee. The employee was convicted of hacking into the company's cloud servers to steal customer data and use computer power to mine cryptocurrency. The ex-employee was able to download the personal information of more than 100 million Capital One customers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-18/ex-amazon-cloud-worker-convicted-of-massive-capitol-one-hack |title=Ex-Amazon Cloud Worker Convicted of Massive Capital One Hack|last=Burnson|first=Robert|date=18 June 2022|website=Bloomberg|access-date=20 June 2022|archive-date=July 4, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220704101452/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-18/ex-amazon-cloud-worker-convicted-of-massive-capitol-one-hack |url-status=live}}</ref>
In June 2022, AWS announced they had launched the AWS Snowcone, a small computing device, to the International Space Station on the Axiom Mission 1.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lardinois |first=Frederic |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/23/aws-sent-a-snowcone-to-space/ |title=AWS sent a Snowcone to space |work=TechCrunch |date=2022-06-23 |accessdate=2022-06-25 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625212451/https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/23/aws-sent-a-snowcone-to-space/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In September 2023, AWS announced it would become AI startup Anthropic's primary cloud provider. Amazon has committed to investing up to $4 billion in Anthropic and will have a minority ownership position in the company.<ref>{{Cite press release |date=2023-09-25 |title=Amazon and Anthropic Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance Generative AI |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/9/amazon-and-anthropic-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-advance-generative-ai |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=Amazon Press Center |language=en |archive-date=October 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013044659/https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/9/amazon-and-anthropic-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-advance-generative-ai |url-status=live }}</ref> AWS also announced the GA of Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that makes foundation models (FMs) from leading AI companies available through a single application programming interface (API)<ref>{{Cite press release |date=2023-09-28 |title=AWS announces the general availability of Amazon Bedrock and powerful new offerings to accelerate generative AI innovation |url=https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/aws-amazon-bedrock-general-availability-generative-ai-innovations |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=Amazon Press Center |language=en |archive-date=April 24, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240424022502/https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/aws-amazon-bedrock-general-availability-generative-ai-innovations |url-status=live }}</ref>
In April 2024, AWS announced a new service called Deadline Cloud, which lets customers set up, deploy and scale up graphics and visual effects rendering pipelines on AWS cloud infrastructure.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wiggers |first=Kyle |date=2 April 2024 |title=AWS Unveils New Service For Cloud Based Rendering Projects |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/02/aws-unveils-new-service-for-cloud-based-rendering-projects/ |website=Tech Crunch |access-date=April 3, 2024 |archive-date=April 3, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240403102415/https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/02/aws-unveils-new-service-for-cloud-based-rendering-projects/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
In July 2024, AWS won a $1.3 billion (A$2 billion) contract with Australia's government to build a top-secret cloud service. The service included a partnership with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). The ASD director general Rachel Noble said the service would "provide a state-of-the-art collaborative space for our intelligence and defense community to store and access top-secret data”.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cherney |first=Mike |date=2024-07-04 |title=Amazon to Build $1.3 Billion Top-Secret Cloud for Australia’s Government |url=https://www.wsj.com/tech/amazon-to-build-1-3-billion-top-secret-cloud-for-australias-government-699ec515 |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=The Wall Street Journal |language=en-US}}</ref>
In December 2024, AWS announced Amazon Nova, its own family of foundation models. These models, offered through Amazon Bedrock, are designed for various tasks including content generation, video understanding, and building agentic applications. They are available in six different sizes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-03 |title=Introducing Amazon Nova, our new generation of foundation models |url=https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/amazon-nova-artificial-intelligence-bedrock-aws |access-date=2024-12-23 |website=Amazon |language=en}}</ref> At the end of 2024, AWS announced Project Rainier, a massive one-of-a-kind machine "designed to usher in the next generation of AI."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meet Project Rainier, Amazon's one-of-a-kind machine ushering in the next generation of AI |url=https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/aws-project-rainier-ai-trainium-chips-compute-cluster |access-date=2025-07-10 |website=www.aboutamazon.com |date=June 24, 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
In March and April of 2026, during the 2026 Iran War, Iranian drone and missile strikes damaged AWS data centers in the United Arab Emirates (me-central-1) and Bahrain (me-south-1) regions, in the first deliberate military targeting of a commercial data center. Iran claimed the data centers hosted US military workloads. AWS advised customers to migrate to other regions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=published |first=Luke James |date=2026-03-07 |title=Iranian drone strikes hit three AWS data centers in the UAE and Bahrain — Iran confirms it targeted Amazon cloud infrastructure |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/drone-strikes-hit-three-aws-data-centers-in-the-uae-and-bahrain |access-date=2026-04-06 |website=Tom's Hardware |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Morales |first=Jowi |date=2026-04-04 |title=Iranian missile blitz takes down AWS data centers in Bahrain and Dubai — Amazon reportedly declares “hard down” status for multiple zones |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/iranian-missile-blitz-takes-down-aws-data-centers-in-bahrain-and-dubai-amazon-declares-hard-down-status-for-multiple-zones |access-date=2026-04-06 |website=Tom's Hardware |language=en}}</ref>
=== Customer base === In October 2013, AWS was awarded a $600M contract with the CIA.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/amazon-ibm-ciacontract-idUSL4N0HY0IS20131008 |title=US court rules for Amazon.com in CIA cloud contract dispute|date=October 8, 2013|newspaper=Reuters|access-date=April 6, 2016|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210114011320/https://www.reuters.com/article/amazon-ibm-ciacontract-idUSL4N0HY0IS20131008 |url-status=live}}</ref>
By 2019, it was reported that more than 80% of Germany's listed DAX companies used AWS.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Benrath |first1=Bastian |title=Cloudsparte AWS: Die Sonne hinter Amazons Wolken |language=de |trans-title=AWS Cloud Services: The sun behind Amazon's clouds |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/digitec/cloudsparte-aws-die-sonne-hinter-amazons-wolken-16067635.html?printPagedArticle=true |access-date=June 24, 2021 |work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |date=March 3, 2019 |issn=0174-4909 |archive-date=December 4, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211204114636/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/digitec/cloudsparte-aws-die-sonne-hinter-amazons-wolken-16067635.html?printPagedArticle=true |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2019, the U.S. Navy said it moved 72,000 users from six commands to an AWS cloud system as a first step toward pushing all of its data and analytics onto the cloud.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://breakingdefense.com/2019/08/navy-takes-first-big-step-to-cloud-pushing-logistics-to-amazons-service/ |title=Navy Takes First Big Step To Cloud, Pushing Logistics To Amazon's Service|last=Hitchens|first=Theresa |website=Breaking Defense|date=August 23, 2019|language=en-US|access-date=August 26, 2019|archive-date=October 31, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201031123558/https://breakingdefense.com/2019/08/navy-takes-first-big-step-to-cloud-pushing-logistics-to-amazons-service/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
In January 2021, Amazon announced that it would suspend Parler from Amazon Web Services, stating Parler hosted “violent content” that violates its terms of service.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Palmer |first=Annie |date=2021-01-10 |title=Amazon drops Parler from its web hosting service, citing violent posts |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/09/amazon-drops-parler-from-its-web-hosting-service.html |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=CNBC |language=en}}</ref> Later in 2021, DISH Network announced it would develop and launch its 5G network on AWS.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Connor |title=Why DISH Was the Best-Performing Stock in the S&P 500 Today |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/dish-teams-up-with-amazon-web-services-on-5g-collaboration-dish-stock-is-up-11-51619044988 |access-date=April 21, 2021 |website=Barron's |language=en-US |archive-date=April 21, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210421225035/https://www.barrons.com/articles/dish-teams-up-with-amazon-web-services-on-5g-collaboration-dish-stock-is-up-11-51619044988 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was also reported that spy agencies and government departments in the UK, such as GCHQ, MI5, MI6, and the Ministry of Defence, contracted AWS to host their classified materials.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Warrell|first1=Helen|last2=Fildes|first2=Nic|title=Amazon strikes deal with UK spy agencies to host top-secret material|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/amazon-strikes-deal-with-uk-spy-agencies-to-host-top-secret-material-1.4710597 |access-date=2021-10-26|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en|archive-date=October 26, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211026103230/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/amazon-strikes-deal-with-uk-spy-agencies-to-host-top-secret-material-1.4710597 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2022, Amazon shared a $9 billion contract from the United States Department of Defense for cloud computing with Google, Microsoft, and Oracle.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Farrell |first1=Maureen |title=Pentagon Divides Big Cloud-Computing Deal Among 4 Firms |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/business/pentagon-cloud-contracts-jwcc.html |work=The New York Times |date=7 December 2022}}</ref>
AWS won a $581 million contract from the U.S. Air Force in January 2026 to provide cloud services and specific Amazon data centers as part of the Cloud One Program, the Air Force's enterprise cloud environment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/2026/aws-wins-581m-cloud-deal-from-u-s-air-force-s-cloud-one-program-1 |title=AWS Wins $581M Cloud Deal From U.S. Air Force’s Cloud One Program|website=CRN|date=January 27, 2026|author=MARK HARANAS|access-date=January 28, 2026}}</ref>
Multiple financial services firms have shifted to AWS in some form.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bloomberg Adds Data License Content to AWS Cloud |date=December 13, 2021 |url=https://a-teaminsight.com/bloomberg-adds-data-license-content-to-aws-cloud/ |access-date=2022-05-29 |archive-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211214160831/https://a-teaminsight.com/bloomberg-adds-data-license-content-to-aws-cloud/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tradeweb teams up with Amazon Web Services to expand access to closing price data - The TRADE |url=https://www.thetradenews.com/tradeweb-teams-up-with-amazon-web-services-to-expand-access-to-closing-price-data/ |access-date=2022-05-27 |website=www.thetradenews.com |date=April 13, 2021 |archive-date=May 27, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220527115102/https://www.thetradenews.com/tradeweb-teams-up-with-amazon-web-services-to-expand-access-to-closing-price-data/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=AWS battle of the titans continues as Itiviti begins cloud transformation of its entire trading infrastructure |date=October 27, 2020 |url=https://financefeeds.com/aws-battle-of-the-titans-continues-as-itiviti-begins-cloud-transformation-of-its-entire-trading-infrastructure/ |access-date=2022-05-29 |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220927210355/https://financefeeds.com/aws-battle-of-the-titans-continues-as-itiviti-begins-cloud-transformation-of-its-entire-trading-infrastructure/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Notable customers include NASA<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gcn.com/articles/2013/01/04/tech-behind-nasa-martian-chronicles.aspx |title=The tech behind NASA's Martian chronicles |work=GCN |author1=John Breeden II |date=January 4, 2013 |access-date=November 8, 2013 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210125042123/https://gcn.com/articles/2013/01/04/tech-behind-nasa-martian-chronicles.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the Obama presidential campaign of 2012.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lohr |first1=Steve |title=The Obama Campaign's Technology Is a Force Multiplier |url=https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/the-obama-campaigns-technology-the-force-multiplier/ |access-date=June 24, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=November 8, 2012 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20131108184948/http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/the-obama-campaigns-technology-the-force-multiplier/?_r=0 |archive-date=November 8, 2013 |url-status=unfit}}{{cbignore}}<!-- keep bots from undoing this --></ref>
=== Significant service outages === {{Main|Timeline of Amazon Web Services#Outages}}
* On April 20, 2011, AWS suffered a major outage. Parts of the Elastic Block Store service became "stuck" and could not fulfill read/write requests. It took at least two days for the service to be fully restored.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aws.amazon.com/message/65648/ |title=Summary of outage occurring April 20–22, 2011 |date=April 29, 2011 |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204050133/https://aws.amazon.com/message/65648/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * On June 29, 2012, several websites that rely on Amazon Web Services were taken offline due to a severe storm in Northern Virginia, where AWS's largest data center cluster is located.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aws.amazon.com/message/67457/ |title=Summary of the AWS Service Event in the US East Region |date=July 2, 2012 |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-date=December 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202235556/https://aws.amazon.com/message/67457/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * On October 22, 2012, a major outage occurred, affecting many sites including Reddit, Foursquare, and Pinterest. The cause was a memory leak bug in an operational data collection agent.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aws.amazon.com/message/680342/ |title=Summary of the October 22, 2012 AWS Service Event in the US-East Region |date=October 22, 2012 |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905042206/https://aws.amazon.com/message/680342/ |archive-date=September 5, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> * On December 24, 2012, AWS suffered another outage causing websites such as Netflix to be unavailable for customers in the Northeastern United States.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bishop|first=Bryan |title=Netflix streaming down on some devices due to Amazon issues|date=December 24, 2012|url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/12/24/3801978/netflix-streaming-down-on-some-devices-thanks-to-amazon-issues |publisher=The Verge|access-date=February 5, 2013|archive-date=July 25, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200725045641/https://www.theverge.com/2012/12/24/3801978/netflix-streaming-down-on-some-devices-thanks-to-amazon-issues |url-status=live}}</ref> AWS cited their Elastic Load Balancing service as the cause.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aws.amazon.com/message/680587/ |title=Summary of the December 24, 2012 Amazon ELB Service Event in the US-East Region |date=December 24, 2012 |access-date=July 17, 2013 |archive-date=August 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807032646/http://aws.amazon.com/message/680587/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * On February 28, 2017, AWS experienced a massive outage of S3 services in its Northern Virginia region. A majority of websites that relied on AWS S3 either hung or stalled, and Amazon reported within five hours that AWS was fully online again.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aws.amazon.com/message/41926/|title=Summary of the Amazon S3 Service Disruption in the Northern Virginia (US-EAST-1) Region|work=amazon.com|access-date=March 2, 2017|archive-date=January 12, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210112002452/https://aws.amazon.com/message/41926/|url-status=live}}</ref> No data has been reported to have been lost due to the outage. The outage was caused by a human error made while debugging, that resulted in removing more server capacity than intended, which caused a domino effect of outages.<ref>[https://www.cnet.com/news/aws-s3-service-disruption-a-typo-blew-up-part-of-the-internet-tuesday/ A typo blew up part of the internet Tuesday] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201112035227/https://www.cnet.com/news/aws-s3-service-disruption-a-typo-blew-up-part-of-the-internet-tuesday/ |date=November 12, 2020 }} CNET, Retrieved March 2, 2017</ref> * On November 25, 2020, AWS experienced several hours of outage on the Kinesis service in North Virginia (US-East-1) region. Other services relying on Kinesis were also affected.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Speed|first=Richard|title=AWS admits to 'severely impaired' services in US-EAST-1, can't even post updates to Service Health Dashboard|url=https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/25/aws_down/ |access-date=November 25, 2020|website=www.theregister.com|language=en|archive-date=December 19, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201219181712/https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/25/aws_down/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Canales |first1=Katie |last2=Dean |first2=Grace |title=Amazon Web Services is back up after a massive outage that hit sites including Roku, Adobe, and Target-owned Shipt |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-web-services-outage-websites-not-working-2020-11 |access-date=November 26, 2020 |website=Business Insider |archive-date=December 15, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201215145943/https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-web-services-outage-websites-not-working-2020-11 |url-status=live }}</ref> * On December 7, 2021, an outage mainly affected the Eastern United States, disrupting delivery service and streaming.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/amazon-web-services-outage-causes-issues-at-disney-netflix-coinbase.html |title=Amazon Web Services outage brings some delivery operations to a standstill|last=Palmer|first=Annie|work=CNBC|date=December 7, 2021|access-date=December 9, 2021|archive-date=May 21, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220521123937/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/amazon-web-services-outage-causes-issues-at-disney-netflix-coinbase.html |url-status=live}}</ref> * On October 20, 2025, AWS suffered a major outage, resulting in platforms including Duolingo, Snapchat, Canva,<ref>{{cite web|title=Canva Innovator Hub|publisher=Amazon Web Services|date=17 October 2025|url=https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/innovators/canva/}}</ref> Reddit, Canvas,<ref>{{cite web | title=Is Canvas website down for college, school students from AWS outage? | FOX 29 Philadelphia | url=https://www.fox29.com/news/canvas-website-down-students-after-aws-outage.amp }}</ref> Coinbase, Roblox, Fortnite, and Amazon being down.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theverge.com/news/802486/aws-outage-alexa-fortnite-snapchat-offline |title=Major AWS outage takes down Fortnite, Alexa, Snapchat, and more|last=Weatherbed|first=Jess |work=The Verge|date=October 20, 2025|access-date=October 20, 2025|archive-date=October 20, 2025|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20251020082424/https://www.theverge.com/news/802486/aws-outage-alexa-fortnite-snapchat-offline |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/snapchat-roblox-duolingo-fortnite-down-not-working-b2848289.html |title=Snapchat, Ring, Roblox, Fortnite and more go down in huge internet outage |last=Griffin|first=Andrew |date=October 20, 2025|access-date=2025-10-20 |work=The Independent |language=en-US }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ghinea |first=Alexandru |title=AWS Outage October 2025: A Comprehensive Breakdown of the Global Cloud Disruption |url=https://www.fxradar.live/market-news/aws-outage-october-2025-a-comprehensive-breakdown-of-the-glo.html |access-date=2025-10-21 |website=www.fxradar.live |language=en}}</ref> * From March 1, 2026, UAE and Bahrain regions are unavailable following attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<ref name=":3" />
== Availability and topology == {{As of|2025|10|post=,}} AWS has distinct operations in 38 geographical "regions":<ref name="GlobalInfrastructure"/> nine in North America, two in South America, nine in Europe, four in the Middle East, one in Africa, thirteen in the Asia–Pacific, and three in Australia and New Zealand.
Most AWS regions are enabled by default for AWS accounts. Regions introduced after 20 March 2019 are considered to be ''opt-in'' regions, requiring a user to explicitly enable them in order for the region to be usable in the account. For opt-in regions, Identity and Access Management (IAM) resources such as users and roles are only propagated to the regions that are enabled.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-21 |title=Setting permissions to enable accounts for upcoming AWS Regions {{!}} AWS Security Blog |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/setting-permissions-to-enable-accounts-for-upcoming-aws-regions/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=aws.amazon.com |language=en-US |archive-date=March 11, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240311000127/https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/setting-permissions-to-enable-accounts-for-upcoming-aws-regions/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Each region is wholly contained within a single country and all of its data and services stay within the designated region.<ref name="AWSagreement">{{Cite web |title=AWS Customer Agreement |url=https://aws.amazon.com/agreement/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 6, 2016 |website=Amazon Web Services, Inc. |archive-date=March 30, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070330043501/https://aws.amazon.com/agreement/ }}</ref> Each region has multiple "Availability Zones",<ref name="GlobalInfrastructure"/> which consist of one or more discrete data centers, each with redundant power, networking, and connectivity, housed in separate facilities. Availability Zones do not automatically provide additional scalability or redundancy within a region, since they are intentionally isolated from each other to prevent outages from spreading between zones. Several services can operate across Availability Zones (e.g., S3, DynamoDB) while others can be configured to replicate across zones to spread demand and avoid downtime from failures.
{{As of|2014|12|post=,}} Amazon Web Services operated an estimated 1.4 million servers across 11 regions and 28 availability zones.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geek.com/chips/just-how-big-is-amazons-aws-business-hint-its-absolutely-massive-1610221/ |title=Just how big is Amazon's AWS business? (hint: it's absolutely massive)|publisher=Geek.com|access-date=December 22, 2014|archive-date=December 23, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191223045710/https://www.geek.com/chips/just-how-big-is-amazons-aws-business-hint-its-absolutely-massive-1610221/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> The global network of AWS Edge locations consists of over 700 points of presence worldwide, including locations in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Africa, and South America.The AWS Cloud spans 120 Availability Zones within 38 Geographic Regions, with announced plans for 10 more Availability Zones and 3 more AWS Regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Chile, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.<ref name="GlobalInfrastructure"/>
{{As of|2024|03|post=,}} AWS had announced the planned launch of six additional regions in Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union.<ref name="GlobalInfrastructure"/> In mid March 2023, Amazon Web Services signed a cooperation agreement with the New Zealand Government to build large data centers in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amazon group's web services signs cooperation agreement with New Zealand |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/486571/amazon-group-s-web-services-signs-cooperation-deal-with-new-zealand-government |access-date=8 April 2023 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=23 March 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230325224954/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/486571/amazon-group-s-web-services-signs-cooperation-deal-with-new-zealand-government |archive-date=25 March 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Pop-up lofts == [[File:Amazon Web Services (AWS) Loft - NYC (48129118457).jpg|thumb|right|AWS Loft in SoHo, New York City]] AWS also has "pop-up lofts" in different locations around the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=AWS Pop-up Lofts|url=https://aws.amazon.com/start-ups/loft/ |website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|access-date=March 22, 2018|archive-date=December 3, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201203213711/https://aws.amazon.com/startups/lofts/ |url-status=live}}</ref> These market AWS to entrepreneurs and startups in different tech industries in a physical location. Visitors can work or relax inside the loft, or learn more about what they can do with AWS. In June 2014, AWS opened their first temporary pop-up loft in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Head-in-the-cloud-Amazon-Web-Services-SoMa-6418734.php|title=Head in the cloud: Amazon Web Services' SoMa pop-up now permanent|date=August 2015|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200727023636/https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Head-in-the-cloud-Amazon-Web-Services-SoMa-6418734.php |url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2015 they expanded to New York City,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.entrepreneur.com/video/248574 |title=Why Amazon Added a Pop-Up Loft in NYC|first=Nina|last=Zipkin |date=August 19, 2015|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200727022934/https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/248574 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2015/05/19/amazon-nyc-pop-up/ |title=Like Target and Porsche, Amazon Web Services opens pop-up shop in NYC|date=May 19, 2015|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200727040647/https://fortune.com/2015/05/19/amazon-nyc-pop-up/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and in September 2015 expanded to Berlin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://venturevillage.eu/amazon-web-services-opens-pop-up-loft-in-berlin |title=Amazon Web Services opens Pop-up Loft in Berlin|date=September 22, 2015|access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160205003426/http://venturevillage.eu/amazon-web-services-opens-pop-up-loft-in-berlin |archive-date=February 5, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> AWS opened its fourth location, in Tel Aviv from March 1, 2016, to March 22, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Tech/Amazons-Pop-up-loft-heading-to-Tel-Aviv-445078 |title=Amazon's Pop-up loft heading to Tel Aviv|date=February 16, 2016 |access-date=February 16, 2016|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200727022658/https://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Tech/Amazons-Pop-up-loft-heading-to-Tel-Aviv-445078 |url-status=live}}</ref> A pop-up loft was open in London from September 10 to October 29, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-pop-up-loft-london/ |title=Amazon gets startup-friendly with AWS Loft space in London|last=Tung|first=Liam |website=ZDNet|language=en|access-date=January 31, 2017|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200809150856/https://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-pop-up-loft-london/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The pop-up lofts in New York<ref>{{Cite web|title=New York|url=https://aws.amazon.com/start-ups/loft/ny-loft/ |access-date=June 8, 2020|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|language=en-US|archive-date=September 21, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200921233704/https://aws.amazon.com/start-ups/loft/ny-loft/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and San Francisco<ref>{{Cite web|title=AWS Loft San Francisco|url=https://aws.amazon.com/start-ups/loft/sf-loft/ |access-date=June 8, 2020|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|language=en-US|archive-date=December 16, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201216055411/https://aws.amazon.com/start-ups/loft/sf-loft/ |url-status=live}}</ref> are indefinitely{{cn|date=March 2026}} closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic while Tokyo has remained open in a limited capacity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=AWS Loft Tokyo 〜 挑戦をカタチにする場所へ 〜 {{!}} AWS|url=https://aws.amazon.com/jp/start-ups/loft/tokyo/ |access-date=June 8, 2020|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|language=ja-JP|archive-date=November 20, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201120090346/https://aws.amazon.com/jp/start-ups/loft/tokyo/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
== Charitable work == In 2017, AWS launched AWS re/Start in the United Kingdom to help young adults and military veterans retrain in technology-related skills. In partnership with the Prince's Trust and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), AWS will help to provide re-training opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and former military personnel. AWS is working alongside a number of partner companies including Cloudreach, Sage Group, EDF Energy, and Tesco Bank.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itpro.co.uk/strategy/27902/aws-restart-to-teach-digital-skills-to-young-people-and-military-veterans |title=AWS re:Start to teach digital skills to young people and military veterans|work=itpro.co.uk|date=January 12, 2017|access-date=February 21, 2017|archive-date=January 25, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210125203658/https://www.itpro.co.uk/strategy/27902/aws-restart-to-teach-digital-skills-to-young-people-and-military-veterans |url-status=live}}</ref>
In April 2022, AWS announced that the organization had committed more than $30 million over three years to early-stage start-ups led by Black, Latino, LGBTQIA+, and women founders as part of its AWS impact Accelerator. The Initiative offers qualifying start-ups up to $225,000 in cash, credits, extensive training, mentoring, technical guidance and includes up to $100,000 in AWS service credits.<ref>{{cite journal|date=22 April 2022|url=https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/aws-commits-30-million-to-startups-led-by-underrepresented-founders |title=AWS commits $30 million to startups led by underrepresented founders|journal=Philanthropy News Digest|access-date=5 May 2022|archive-date=April 22, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220422201526/https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/aws-commits-30-million-to-startups-led-by-underrepresented-founders |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Reception== === Environmental footprint === In 2014, AWS claimed its aim was to achieve 100% renewable energy usage in the future.<ref>{{cite web |first=David |last=Pomerantz |title=AWS and Sustainable Energy |url=https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainable-energy/ |publisher=Amazon |access-date=June 15, 2015 |archive-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201214143008/https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/environment/the-cloud |url-status=live }}</ref> In the United States, AWS's partnerships with renewable energy providers include Community Energy of Virginia, to support the US East region;<ref name="burt2015">{{cite news |title=AWS to Build Solar Farm to Help Power Cloud Data Centers |first=Jeffrey |last=Burt |work=eWeek |date=June 10, 2015 |url=http://www.eweek.com/cloud/aws-to-build-solar-farm-to-help-power-cloud-data-centers.html }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Pattern Development, in January 2015, to construct and operate Amazon Wind Farm Fowler Ridge;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://patterndev.com/en/media/press-releases/pattern-development-completes-financing-and-starts-construct/ |title=Pattern Development Completes Financing and Starts Construction of Amazon Wind Farm Project in Indiana|website=Pattern Energy Group LP.|access-date=July 27, 2017|archive-date=September 18, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200918063831/https://patterndev.com/en/media/press-releases/pattern-development-completes-financing-and-starts-construct/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Iberdrola Renewables, LLC, in July 2015, to construct and operate Amazon Wind Farm US East; EDP Renewables North America, in November 2015, to construct and operate Amazon Wind Farm US Central;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainability/ |title=AWS & Sustainability|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|access-date=April 6, 2016|archive-date=April 7, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160407162619/http://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainability/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and Tesla Motors, to apply battery storage technology to address power needs in the US West (Northern California) region.<ref name="burt2015"/>
In 2016, Greenpeace assessed major tech companies—including cloud services providers like AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, IBM, Salesforce and Rackspace—based on their level of "clean energy" usage. Greenpeace evaluated companies on their mix of renewable-energy sources; transparency; renewable-energy commitment and policies; energy efficiency and greenhouse-gas mitigation; renewable-energy procurement; and advocacy. The group gave AWS an overall "C" grade. Greenpeace credited AWS for its advances toward greener computing in recent years and its plans to launch multiple wind and solar farms across the United States. The organization stated that Amazon is opaque about its carbon footprint.<ref>{{cite web|title=Carbon Footprint of Cloud Service Providers|url=http://www.clickclean.org/downloads/ClickClean2016%20HiRes.pdf |access-date=26 October 2016|archive-date=December 29, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211229151629/http://www.clickclean.org/downloads/ClickClean2016%20HiRes.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
In January 2021, AWS joined an industry pledge to achieve climate neutrality of data centers by 2030, the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2021/jan/21/aws-google-cloud-equinix-among-europe-climate-neutral-data-centre-pact-founders/ |title=AWS, Google Cloud, Equinix among Europe climate neutral data centre pact founders|date=January 21, 2021|access-date=January 29, 2021|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210128161525/https://cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2021/jan/21/aws-google-cloud-equinix-among-europe-climate-neutral-data-centre-pact-founders/ |url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2023, Amazon as a whole is the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world, a position it has held since 2020, and has a global portfolio of over 20 GW of renewable energy capacity.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-31 |title=Amazon Sets a New Record for Most Renewable Energy Purchased by a Single Company |url=https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/1/amazon-sets-a-new-record-for-most-renewable-energy-purchased-by-a-single-company |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=Press Center |language=en |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240123062305/https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/1/amazon-sets-a-new-record-for-most-renewable-energy-purchased-by-a-single-company |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2022, 90% of all Amazon operations, including data centers, were powered by renewables.<ref>{{Cite web |title=9 takeaways from Amazon's 2022 Sustainability Report |url=https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-sustainability-report-2022 |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=US About Amazon |date=July 18, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240123062304/https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-sustainability-report-2022 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2024, AWS paid $650 million for a data center<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 4, 2024 |title=AWS acquires Talen's nuclear data center campus in Pennsylvania |url=https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/aws-acquires-talens-nuclear-data-center-campus-in-pennsylvania/ |access-date=June 23, 2024 |website=Data Center Dynamics}}</ref> at the 2.5 GW Susquehanna nuclear power plant, connected at 300 MW. In 2025, AWS signed an $18 billion power purchase agreement with the station for 840—1,200 MW in 2029 and 1,680—1,920 MW in 2032, continuing to 2042. The power increase depends on Amazon's expansion of the data center.<ref name=pat>{{cite web |last1=Patel |first1=Sonal |title=Talen, Amazon Launch $18B Nuclear PPA—A Grid-Connected IPP Model for the Data Center Era |url=https://www.powermag.com/talen-amazon-launch-18b-nuclear-ppa-a-grid-connected-ipp-model-for-the-data-center-era/ |website=POWER Magazine |date=12 June 2025}}</ref>
=== Denaturalization protest === US Department of Homeland Security has employed the software ATLAS, which runs on Amazon Cloud. It scanned more than 16.5 million records of naturalized Americans and flagged approximately 124,000 of them for manual analysis and review by USCIS officers regarding denaturalization.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Biddle |first1=Sam|first2=Maryam|last2=Saleh|date=August 25, 2021 |title=Little-Known Federal Software Can Trigger Revocation of Citizenship |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/08/25/atlas-citizenship-denaturalization-homeland-security/ |work=The Intercept |language=en |archive-date=September 21, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210921191424/https://theintercept.com/2021/08/25/atlas-citizenship-denaturalization-homeland-security/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cuccinelli Announces USCIS' FY 2019 Accomplishments and Efforts to Implement President Trump's Goals |url=https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/cuccinelli-announces-uscis-fy-2019-accomplishments-and-efforts-to-implement-president-trumps-goals |website=www.uscis.gov |access-date=21 September 2021 |language=en |date=16 October 2019 |archive-date=September 21, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210921204355/https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/cuccinelli-announces-uscis-fy-2019-accomplishments-and-efforts-to-implement-president-trumps-goals |url-status=live }}</ref> Some of the scanned data came from the Terrorist Screening Database and the National Crime Information Center. The algorithm and the criteria for the algorithm were secret. Amazon faced protests from its own employees and activists for the anti-migrant collaboration with authorities.<ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Government Is Using an Algorithm to Flag American Citizens for Denaturalization: Report |url=https://gizmodo.com/u-s-government-is-using-an-algorithm-to-flag-american-1847565703 |access-date=21 September 2021 |work=Gizmodo |language=en-us |archive-date=September 21, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210921211100/https://gizmodo.com/u-s-government-is-using-an-algorithm-to-flag-american-1847565703 |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Israeli–Palestinian conflict === {{Main|Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
The contract for Project Nimbus drew rebuke and condemnation from the companies' shareholders as well as their employees, over concerns that the project would lead to abuses of Palestinians' human rights in the context of the ongoing occupation and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.<ref>{{cite web |title=Google and Amazon face shareholder revolt over Israeli defense work |url=https://theintercept.com/2022/05/18/google-amazon-israel-military-nimbus/ |date=May 18, 2022 |last=Biddle |first=Sam |publisher=The Intercept |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-date=December 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221150051/https://theintercept.com/2022/05/18/google-amazon-israel-military-nimbus/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/google-amazon-shareholders-oppose-israeli-project-nimbus |title=Google and Amazon shareholders to oppose Israel's Project Nimbus in resolutions |date=May 19, 2022 |publisher=The New Arab |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521122815/https://www.newarab.com/news/google-amazon-shareholders-oppose-israeli-project-nimbus |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="anon-workers">{{cite web |title=We are Google and Amazon workers. We condemn Project Nimbus |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/12/google-amazon-workers-condemn-project-nimbus-israeli-military-contract |author=Anonymous |work=The Guardian |date=Oct 12, 2021 |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-date=May 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518020549/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/12/google-amazon-workers-condemn-project-nimbus-israeli-military-contract |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/1/google_project_nimbus_israeli_military_unionizing |publisher=Democracy Now! |title='No Tech for Apartheid': Google Workers Push for Cancellation of Secretive $1.2B Project with Israel |date=Sep 1, 2022 |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021165758/https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/1/google_project_nimbus_israeli_military_unionizing |url-status=live }}</ref> Specifically, they voice concern over how the technology will enable further surveillance of Palestinians and unlawful data collection on them as well as facilitate the expansion of Israel's illegal settlements on Palestinian land.<ref name="anon-workers"/> A government procurement document featuring 'obligatory customers' of Nimbus, including "two of Israel’s leading state-owned weapons manufacturers" Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, was published in 2021 with periodic updates since (up to Oct 2023).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/google-amazon-nimbus-israel-weapons-arms-gaza/ |date=May 1, 2024 |title=Israeli weapons firms required to buy cloud services from Google and Amazon |first=Sam |last=Biddle |access-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-date=May 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518193945/https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/google-amazon-nimbus-israel-weapons-arms-gaza/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Work with sanctioned companies === AWS has been noted to work with Chinese companies under varying degrees of U.S. government sanctions, such as Hikvision and Dahua Technology, which have been accused to enabling mass surveillance and human rights abuses in China and elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Healy |first=Conor |date=2022-09-26 |title=Amazon Powers Dahua and Hikvision Sales and Cloud Services |url=https://ipvm.com/reports/amazon-powers-hikua |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928013940/https://ipvm.com/reports/amazon-powers-hikua |archive-date=2022-09-28 |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=IPVM |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ghosal |first1=Aniruddha |last2=Kang |first2=Dake |date=2025-12-20 |title=US tech enabled China's surveillance empire. Now Tibetan refugees in Nepal are paying the price |url=https://apnews.com/article/china-tibet-nepal-surveillance-technology-silicon-valley-eadac8211c5d0ca88374afecfbba00d5 |access-date=2025-12-21 |website=Associated Press |language=en}}</ref>
== Security incidents ==
=== Amazon Q Developer Extension supply-chain vulnerability (2025) === In July 2025, a security researcher disclosed a supply-chain vulnerability in the Amazon Q Developer Extension (version 1.84) for Visual Studio Code.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Cox |first=Joseph |date=2025-07-23 |title=Hacker Plants Computer 'Wiping' Commands in Amazon's AI Coding Agent |url=https://www.404media.co/hacker-plants-computer-wiping-commands-in-amazons-ai-coding-agent/ |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=404 Media |language=en}}</ref> The issue involved a malicious pull request to the project's GitHub repository, which introduced a prompt instructing the AI assistant to delete local files and AWS resources.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Quinn |first=Corey |date=2025-07-23 |title=Amazon Q: Now with Helpful AI-Powered Self-Destruct Capabilities - Last Week in AWS Blog |url=https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/amazon-q-now-with-helpful-ai-powered-self-destruct-capabilities/ |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=Last Week in AWS |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> AWS acknowledged the issue in Security Bulletin AWS‑2025‑015 and released version 1.85 to remove the injected prompt. The company stated that no customer systems or data were affected.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Security Update for Amazon Q Developer Extension for Visual Studio Code (Version #1.84) |url=https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/AWS-2025-015/ |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=Amazon Web Services, Inc. |language=en-US}}</ref> However, critics including Corey Quinn, writing in Last Week in AWS, questioned the transparency of the response, noting the absence of a changelog entry, a CVE assignment, or a public statement beyond the bulletin.<ref name=":2" />
=== Log4Shell Hot Patch vulnerability === In response to the Log4Shell vulnerability, AWS released hot patch solutions to mitigate risks in Java applications across various environments, including standalone servers, Kubernetes clusters, and Elastic Container Service (ECS). These patches were designed for both AWS and non-AWS environments. However, researchers from Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks identified critical security flaws in these patches that could be exploited for container escape and privilege escalation, potentially granting attackers unauthorized root-level access to the host system. AWS addressed these vulnerabilities by releasing updated patches on April 19, 2022. Users who deployed the initial patches were advised to upgrade to the latest versions to mitigate security risks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AWS's Log4Shell Hot Patch Vulnerable to Container Escape and Privilege Escalation |date=April 19, 2022 |url=https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/aws-log4shell-hot-patch-vulnerabilities/ }}</ref>
=== Application Load Balancer security issue === In April 2024, security researchers from Miggo security identified a configuration vulnerability in AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) that could allow attackers to bypass access controls and compromise web applications. The issue stemmed from how some users configured ALB's authentication handoff to third-party services, potentially enabling unauthorized access to application data. On July 11, 2024, AWS confirmed the issue affecting its customers, and on July 19, 2024, AWS updated its documentation accordingly to recommend more secure implementation practices.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Newman |first=Lily Hay |title=An AWS Configuration Issue Could Expose Thousands of Web Apps |url=https://www.wired.com/story/aws-application-load-balancer-implementation-compromise/ |access-date=2026-01-29 |work=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=ALBeast Vulnerability: AWS ALB Auth Flaw Explained |url=https://www.miggo.io/post/uncovering-auth-vulnerability-in-aws-alb-albeast |access-date=2026-01-29 |website=www.miggo.io |language=en}}</ref>
In 2026, Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain experienced service disruptions following reported drone strikes in the region. According to Datacenter Dynamics and Reuters, some facilities were affected, resulting in partial damage to physical infrastructure and temporary reductions in service availability for enterprise customers. reports indicated that full recovery of services in the affected regions could take several months, with some services being moved to other cloud regions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=say |first=Sebastian Moss Have your |date=2026-05-06 |title=Amazon confirms two UAE data centers hit by drone strikes, third in Bahrain damaged |url=https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/amazon-confirms-two-uae-data-centers-hit-by-drone-strikes-third-in-bahrain-damaged/ |access-date=2026-05-08 |website=www.datacenterdynamics.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=AWS outages in Middle East highlight importance of disaster recovery {{!}} CIO Dive |url=https://www.ciodive.com/news/aws-outages-bahrain-UAE-drone-strikes/813705/ |access-date=2026-05-08 |website=www.ciodive.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Amazon says restoring damaged Middle East cloud operations to take months |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/amazon-says-damaged-uae-cloud-region-recovery-take-several-months-2026-04-30/}}</ref>
== Issues == {{Page numbers needed|section|date=January 2025}} Some AWS customers have complained about receiving unexpectedly large bills, commonly referred to as "surprise bills." This can occur due to various reasons, including but not limited to misconfigurations, security breaches, complex pricing—especially when multiple AWS services are used together—and unexpected data transfer charges.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Serverless Architectures on AWS With Examples Using AWS Lambda|last=Sbarski|first=Peter|date=April 17, 2017 |publisher=Manning Publications|isbn=9781638351146}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=AWS for Non-Engineers|last=Nishimura|first=Hiroko|date=December 13, 2022 |publisher=Manning Publications |isbn=9781633439948}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Network Programmability and Automation Skills for the Next-Generation Network Engineer|last1=Oswalt |first1=Matt |last2=Adell |first2=Christian |last3=Lowe |first3=Scott S. |last4=Edelman |first4=Jason |date=June 23, 2022 |publisher=O'Reilly Media |isbn=9781098110789}}</ref>
== Pricing ==
=== Data transfer charges === AWS applies charges for data transferred both between Availability Zones within the same region (inter-AZ) and across different geographic regions (inter-region). The pricing structure is influenced by several factors, including the source and destination of the data, the specific AWS services in use, and the underlying networking architecture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Understanding data transfer charges - AWS Data Exports |url=https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cur/latest/userguide/cur-data-transfers-charges.html |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=docs.aws.amazon.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2021-06-30 |title=Overview of Data Transfer Costs for Common Architectures {{!}} AWS Architecture Blog |url=https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/overview-of-data-transfer-costs-for-common-architectures/ |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=aws.amazon.com}}</ref> Various services implement different data transfer models, and the choice of communication method—such as VPC Peering,<ref>{{Cite web |title=EC2 On-Demand Instance Pricing |url=https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/ |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=Amazon Web Services, Inc. |language=en-US}}</ref> Transit Gateway,<ref>{{Cite web |title=AWS Transit Gateway pricing |url=https://aws.amazon.com/transit-gateway/pricing/ |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=Amazon Web Services, Inc. |language=en-US}}</ref> or AWS PrivateLink<ref>{{Cite web |title=AWS PrivateLink Pricing |url=https://aws.amazon.com/privatelink/pricing/ |access-date=2025-08-07 |website=Amazon Web Services, Inc. |language=en-US}}</ref>—can also affect the overall cost.<ref name=":0" />
== See also == {{Main category|Amazon Web Services}} * Cloud-computing comparison * Comparison of file hosting services * {{annotated link|James Gosling}} * {{annotated link|Tim Bray}}
== Explanatory notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == <!-- Per WP:ELMINOFFICIAL, choose one official website only --> {{Commons category}} * {{official website|https://aws.amazon.com/}}
{{AWS}} {{Jeff Bezos}} {{Cloud computing}} {{Amazon}} {{Major Internet companies}} {{Authority control}}
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