Amazon Web Services

Ohio's two gubernatorial candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton, propose conflicting plans for regulating future data centers. Acton supports a conditional moratorium requiring standards related to costs, labor, environment, and community benefit agreements. Conversely, Ramaswamy proposed that data centers must pay for residents’ electricity and lower property taxes while adhering to all air and water quality standards.

Legislators in Ohio introduced Ohio House Bill 983, which aims to regulate data center development across the state. Key provisions include requiring voter approval for new construction exceeding one megawatt and imposing stringent standards for air emissions and water discharge, while also banning local tax incentives for related facilities.

Amazon Web Services is abandoning its plans to develop data centers at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland following voter pushback and electoral defeats of commissioners who supported data center expansion. The county will hold a public meeting to consider a six-month moratorium on data center site plan approvals.

The article argues that U.S. dominance in AI stems from control of infrastructure like data centers, cloud computing, and AI servers, not just model performance. It highlights Nvidia's 85% market share in AI chips and its ecosystem, including partnerships with cloud providers and defense contracts, as central to American technological hegemony.

Amazon's stock reached a $3 trillion market value for the first time, driven by surging cloud growth. Amazon Web Services reported $42.2 billion in Q2 revenue, exceeding analyst expectations by over $1.6 billion.

A Chinese threat actor is using a leaked DarkSword exploit kit to deploy GHOSTBLADE on Apple iOS devices. Censys identified over 100 web properties operated by the actor, primarily fake Amazon Web Services sign-in pages hosting the exploit toolkit.

Enterprise cloud infrastructure spending reached $143 billion in Q2 2026, growing 43% year-on-year driven by AI adoption and demand for scalable IT solutions. Public IaaS and PaaS platforms grew 47%, with AI-specific cloud services surging 165%. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud dominate 67% of the market, while tier-two providers like CoreWeave and Oracle show high growth.

Amazon reported strong Q2 results driven by 37% year-over-year revenue growth in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud business, which now has a $496 billion backlog. CEO Andy Jassy announced increased 2026 capital expenditures of $220 billion, up from $200 billion, but stated Amazon will still lack capacity to meet demand. AWS operating income rose 64% to $16.6 billion, with a 39.4% margin.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy argues that the AI race is shifting from building the best single model to offering access to multiple leading AI systems. Amazon's AWS revenue grew 37% by using models from Anthropic and OpenAI, while its own models face challenges. Jassy claims customers prefer diverse models for different tasks, positioning Amazon Bedrock as a competitive platform.

Microsoft's Azure cloud business surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time, growing 33% from $75 billion in the previous fiscal year. The fourth quarter saw 43% year-over-year cloud revenue growth, contributing to $90 billion in quarterly revenue and boosting Microsoft's stock by over 8% in after-hours trading.

Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in 1995 as an online bookshop, has become the world's largest company by revenue, topping Fortune's Global 500. The company's growth is attributed to customer-centric strategies, AWS dominance in cloud computing, and significant investments in AI and silicon technology.

CEOs and executives in tech and business disagree on AI's impact for Gen Z workers, with some warning it may eliminate entry-level jobs and others arguing it could benefit young professionals. The debate centers on the speed of AI adoption and its effects on career opportunities.

The Pentagon has partnered with eight AI companies to deploy advanced AI on classified networks, but Anthropic refused to remove restrictions on its Claude model for defense use, leading to a lawsuit. The article highlights concerns about how 'mass domestic surveillance' is defined, particularly regarding data collected from commercial brokers and foreign intelligence programs, which may bypass legal safeguards and threaten privacy.

Brandon Oyer, director of energy and water for Amazon Web Services (AWS), discusses Amazon's investments in carbon-free energy, grid strengthening, and community benefits related to data center growth. He leads energy and water strategy for AWS.

FERC issued show cause orders on June 18 to address load interconnection issues. Customers who demonstrate flexibility will receive faster power access, according to Shalin Savalia from Amazon Web Services, writing in his personal capacity.

AWS CloudFront is experiencing an outage causing 5xx errors for customers using VPC Origins, affecting websites and services globally. The issue began at 0145 PDT and is linked to a packet processing subsystem, with affected entities including Hugging Face, the UK National Lottery, and Fallout 76. AWS recommends switching origin types as a temporary workaround.

Amazon Web Services faces a lawsuit alleging it made false and misleading claims about water use and sustainability in Northern Virginia datacenters. The plaintiff, Dr. Nathan Wangusi, a former AWS water sustainability program manager, used FOIA requests to obtain data showing discrepancies between AWS's public water consumption figures and internal records. The lawsuit criticizes AWS for not disclosing methodology, comparison periods, or inclusion of third-party colocation facilities in its sustainability claims.

Telangana CM will lay the foundation stone for Amazon Web Services' data centre in Bharat Future City on July 15. The first phase of construction is scheduled to be completed within 24 months. The project is part of Amazon’s proposed ₹60,000-crore investment in Telangana over the next decade.

Frustrations over proposed data center developments in Maryland counties led to the defeat of local politicians in recent primary elections. Environmental advocates highlight growing bipartisan opposition to data centers due to concerns about electricity and water use, pollution, and environmental degradation.

Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch stated that companies are no longer relying on a single AI lab for all needs, instead using different labs for various parts of their AI stack. He highlighted the adoption of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, and GLM-5.2, emphasizing cost efficiency and performance.

Amazon Web Services will stop accepting new customers for its Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing service by July 30, 2026. The service, launched in 2005, is being retired alongside its integration with SageMaker AI, with Amazon citing the development of competing services like SageMaker GroundTruth.

Meta is exploring a cloud-computing business to sell unused AI computing capacity from its infrastructure, aiming to monetize surplus resources and offset AI investment costs. The potential service could compete with major cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud by offering raw compute or managed AI services.

US energy secretary Chris Wright called concerns about data centers' environmental impact 'overblown' and urged support for their expansion. He emphasized their role in the AI economy and compared opposition tactics to past anti-fracking campaigns. A Gallup survey found 70% of Americans oppose local data center construction, but Wright argued their benefits outweigh drawbacks.

The tech sector is driven by increased artificial intelligence demand, leading investors to allocate more funds into technology. Amazon Web Services is developing Forward Deployed Engineering units to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic.

AWS CEO Matt Garman argues replacing junior employees with AI is a poor business strategy, emphasizing the value of mentoring young workers and maintaining a talent pipeline. Amazon plans to hire 11,000 interns and recent graduates in 2026 despite AI advancements. A Stanford study suggests AI impacts entry-level workers, but economists attribute youth unemployment to broader economic factors.

The article argues that Hollywood should not fear AI, as generative AI is already streamlining visual effects, reducing costs, and enabling real-time collaboration in filmmaking. It highlights AI's role in accelerating CGI processes and suggests that transparency is key when AI-generated elements are used in films.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is raising key AI cloud prices by 20% due to soaring memory chip costs and strong AI demand. This follows a 15% price increase in January, with memory shortages driving up costs for cloud customers and impacting tech companies like Apple and Xbox.

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman stated that AI will transform approximately half of white-collar jobs but emphasized it will not eliminate them. He highlighted the creation of new jobs and the value of entry-level employees, citing Amazon's hiring of over 11,000 software interns as an example of ongoing workforce needs despite AI advancements.

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman argues AI will reshape but not eliminate white-collar jobs, citing Amazon's hiring of 11,000 interns and graduates in 2026 and increased software developer employment despite AI advancements. He compares AI's impact to Microsoft Excel, emphasizing job transformation rather than displacement.

Banks are accelerating AI leadership recruitment as regulators and clients drive adoption for efficiency. Amazon Web Services (AWS) reports multinational banks are seeking innovative strategies to grow their businesses using AI.

An Amazon Web Services (AWS) executive predicts banks will adopt artificial intelligence for efficiency gains, driven by regulators and clients, intensifying the global race for the technology. Multinational banks have approached AWS for innovative business growth strategies.

Texas lawmakers addressed concerns over data centers' high water usage during a House Natural Resources Committee meeting. Rural residents reported declining water access due to data center operations, while officials noted insufficient data from the industry. Data center advocates emphasized innovation in cooling technologies but opposed regulatory restrictions.

Ohio voters will not vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban large data centers in November 2024. Conserve Ohio, the group behind the amendment, aims to place it on the 2027 ballot after failing to meet the July 1 signature deadline. The amendment would prohibit data centers with a peak load exceeding 25 megawatts per month, a threshold that would block most modern facilities.

The U.S. Department of Defense reports a 1,775% increase in AI use, with 1.5 million personnel using commercial tools, but adoption remains below 50% of its 3.5 million employees. DOGE's influence and partnerships with tech firms like Google and Microsoft are highlighted, alongside mixed assessments of AI's effectiveness in government operations.

Southwest Airlines is collaborating with Amazon Web Services to transition to a fully cloud-based system by 2028, moving from on-premises infrastructure to an AI-enabled architecture using agentic tools across operations and software development.

VIVATECH 2026, Europe's largest startup and innovation event, is exploring AI's role in business development and daily life. Amazon Web Services' Julia White discussed AI's impact on jobs and leadership with business editor Kate Moody.

Microsoft is using Amazon's cloud services to address GitHub's AI-driven capacity issues, despite plans to move GitHub to its own Azure cloud by 2027. The surge in AI-related code activity has strained GitHub's infrastructure, prompting a temporary reliance on Amazon Web Services.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has developed a new networking topology called Resilient Network Graphs (RNG), which is up to a third faster and 40% more energy efficient than traditional hierarchical designs. RNG combines deterministic and randomized cabling to address past challenges with random graph networks, such as latency and complex cabling, and was developed through collaboration with Amazon Scholars and academic experts in graph theory.

Startups like OpenRouter and Concentrate AI are gaining traction by helping companies manage AI model costs through routing tools, as cheaper models like DeepSeek's V4 emerge. These companies face competition from Big Tech firms like AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud.

Google Cloud experienced network disruptions in India due to a fire at a third-party data centre, causing emergency shutdowns and elevated latency in Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai. The outage impacted app and website performance, with no immediate workaround available as restoration efforts continued.