The capex question
Amazon’s capital expenditures have been climbing steadily through 2025 and into 2026, driven largely by AI chip orders, new data center builds, and network upgrades. Analysts expect the Q2 report to show another quarter of elevated spending — possibly the highest yet. The company has been clear that it sees AI as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, but the cost of that conviction is starting to show up on the income statement. Margins in the cloud unit, historically a profit engine for Amazon, are likely to take a hit as depreciation and hardware costs ramp up.
Decentralized AI projects — think protocols that let users rent out GPU power or train models on distributed networks — have been positioning themselves as cheaper alternatives to centralized cloud providers. If Amazon’s capex leads to higher prices for its cloud services, that could actually accelerate adoption of decentralized compute. But there’s a flip side: Amazon’s sheer scale means it can afford to subsidize AI workloads, potentially undercutting smaller networks. The earnings report won’t settle that debate, but it will give the market a clearer picture of how aggressive Amazon plans to be.
Crypto’s cloud dependency
Many crypto projects — from layer-1 blockchains to DeFi protocols — still rely on AWS for infrastructure. A margin squeeze at Amazon could lead to higher hosting costs for these projects, or at least less room for price cuts. That’s a real concern for startups already operating on thin budgets. The timing isn’t great: the broader crypto market has been choppy in 2026, and any extra cost pressure won’t be welcome.
Amazon reports after the bell on Thursday. The market will be watching the cloud revenue growth rate and the capex guidance for the second half of the year. For crypto and decentralized AI, the real story is whether Amazon’s spending spree tightens the compute market or opens a door for alternatives.
