Amazon reveals AWS is a $5bn cloud giant

Amazon unveils AWS results for the first time

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has smashed the $5bn mark and is sill "growing fast", according to Amazon, which unveiled the business unit's individual performance for the first time today.

"AWS is a $5bn business and still growing fast - in fact it's accelerating," said Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon.

For the three months to 31 March, operating income at AWS rose eight per cent to $265m on net sales which jumped a massive 49 per cent over the same period to $1.6bn.

Bezos added: "Born a decade ago, AWS is a good example of how we approach ideas and risk-taking at Amazon. We strive to focus relentlessly on the customer, innovate rapidly, and drive operational excellence. We manage by two seemingly contradictory traits: impatience to deliver faster and a willingness to think long term.

"We are so grateful to our AWS customers and remain dedicated to inventing on their behalf."

Pontus Noren, chief exective of AWS Premier Consulting partner Cloudreach, said he understood why Amazon had been so secretive over AWS' performance as it built the brand out.

"If you are building a brand-new business and are able to bury it in a bigger business, and don't have to reveal to competitors how big the business is, that makes complete sense," he said.

"I'm sure Amazon may have shared [AWS'] numbers with large customers in the past. But for us, it's better for it to to be out in the open as it shows how significant that business is. To start from nothing ten years ago to $5bn is phenomenal."

AWS Premier Consulting partner Smart421 recently revealed in a blog post that its AWS revenues grew by a factor of five in calendar 2014.

"AWS revenues were the world's worst-kept secret," Smart421 CTO Robin Meehan said.

"Every time Amazon produced figures but without breaking out AWS, which was there model, there would then be an analyst guessing game. From a partner perspective, the trajectory is completely unmistakable; you can't be doing this sort of work and not see that it's going crazy."