AWS now a $54bn run rate business, claims Bezos

Cloud services division posts revenue of $10.2bn to start 2021

AWS revenues jumped by 32 per cent in Q1, with the cloud arm becoming a $54bn annual run rate business according to Jeff Bezos.

AWS' total revenue from January to March stood at $13.5bn, a significant increase from $10.2bn in Q1 last year and made up 12 per cent of Amazon's total revenue.

It saw the company beat Q4's 28 per cent growth rate and matched that of Q1 last year, while also contributing $4.1bn in operating income which is up from $3bn in Q1 last year.

"Two of our kids are now 10 and 15 years old - and after years of being nurtured, they're growing up fast and coming into their own," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.

"In just 15 years, AWS has become a $54bn annual sales run rate business competing against the world's largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating—up 32 per cent year over year.

"Companies from Airbnb to McDonald's to Volkswagen come to AWS because we offer what is by far the broadest set of tools and services available, and we continue to invent relentlessly on their behalf."

Amazon's overall revenue increased by 44 per cent year-on-year to $108.5bn with net income more than tripling to $8.1bn.

The boss of AWS UK, Darren Hardman, said last year that the success of AWS through its partners is helping to level up the UK.

The CMO at CloudCheckr, an AWS partner, says he expects the growth to continue this year.

"The continued success of AWS is nothing short of expected," said Mike Kaplan.

"While the cloud infrastructure market witnessed a massive increase in spend in the past year, significant growth is still ahead.

"I expect AWS and Adam Seplisky to maintain growth while working to perfect new cloud service offerings."

TechMarketView analyst Kate Hanaghan meanwhile said the Covid crisis has accelerated AWS.

"The market is evolving towards cloud and hybrid, but the impact of COVID has forced many organisations to speed up their plans or be more radical with their aims. This has clearly benefitted AWS," she said.

"The AWS numbers are staggering, but let's not forget, it is hardly a ‘new kid on the block' anymore; the business is 15 years old (Prime is 10 years old). Of course, both Amazon and AWS are shortly entering a new chapter, with new leaders. Adam Selipsky is set to become the new AWS CEO when Andy Jassy moves to take over from Jeff Bezos at Amazon later this year."