Amazon’s 2026 capital expenditures are driven primarily by accelerated AI infrastructure spending, with management raising its full-year guidance to $220 billion in the July 30 earnings release—up from the $200 billion figure provided in February—due to higher memory and data-center costs. This follows 2025 spending of roughly $132 billion and reflects AWS revenue growth accelerating to 37% year-over-year in Q2, fueled by generative-AI demand. Traders are weighing the impact on free cash flow, which turned negative on a trailing-twelve-month basis amid $169 billion in property-and-equipment purchases, against expected long-term returns on invested capital. The next key catalyst is Amazon’s Q3 earnings, expected in late October, which could update spending trajectories or reveal further cost pressures.