Amazon's Market Cap Surpasses $3 Trillion Amid AI Boom

Yet another technology stock has crossed the $3 trillion market cap. Amazon's market capitalisation went past the $3 trillion mark for the first time on Monday, driven by a sharp rally after the company reported strong quarterly results and reinforced investor confidence that the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is generating fresh demand for its cloud-computing business, its biggest profit driver. The stock was last trading 5.5% higher at $286.20, a record high, taking its gains for the year to more than 23%. Shares of the Seattle-headquartered e-commerce and cloud giant had surged 15% on Friday after the company reported its fastest cloud revenue growth in over four years and increased its forecast for annual capital expenditure. Among the "Magnificent Seven" technology companies that have reported earnings so far, Amazon and Microsoft are the only two whose heavy AI investments have been rewarded by investors. In contrast, Tesla, Alphabet and Meta came under pressure as their aggressive spending plans weighed on free cash flow during the latest quarter. Like several other technology giants, Amazon has been investing billions of dollars to expand its AI infrastructure. In April, the company announced a fresh investment in Anthropic, following its earlier commitment this year to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon took just over two years to add another $1 trillion to its market value after first crossing the $2 trillion milestone in June 2024. Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Nvidia are the other companies that have previously achieved a market capitalisation of at least $3 trillion. Nvidia currently holds the title of the world's most valuable company, with a market capitalisation approaching $5 trillion. The artificial intelligence AI boom has propelled global stock markets to record levels, with leading technology companies committing hundreds of billions of dollars to expand AI infrastructure and capabilities. The strong AI-led rally has also helped equities withstand the risks and uncertainty arising from the Iran conflict, supporting broader market sentiment despite geopolitical tensions. However, recently technology stocks globally have come under pressure raising doubts about the sustainability of the rally and concerns of a bubble.