EL7.AI
StocksMedium•30 October 2026•
2 min read

Amazon Sticks to $220 Billion 2026 Capital Spending Plan Despite Share Drop

Key Facts

1Amazon expects cash capital spending of about $220 billion in 2026 and "much more" spending in 2027.
2Amazon shares fell as much as 7% in after-hours trading on October 29, 2026, after dropping 4.3% in regular trading and closing at $243.79.
3AWS’s backlog reached $578 billion in the third quarter, compared with $496 billion at the end of the second quarter.
4Amazon expects net sales of between $240 billion and $247 billion in the fourth quarter of 2026, compared with an analyst average of $244.16 billion.

Amazon shares fell after the results, dropping 4.3% in regular trading on October 29 and then declining as much as 7% in after-hours trading, according to Reuters. The shares closed at $243.79, according to EL7 data. The decline came as investors scrutinized the cost of the company’s investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to Axios. The share move puts capital spending and liquidity at the center of investors’ assessment of the company’s results. After-hours trading also reflected concern about the scale of future investment commitments.

Amazon kept its forecast for cash capital spending in 2026 at about $220 billion, according to Axios. CEO Andy Jassy had said the company expects to spend "much more" in 2027. That means the expected spending level for next year exceeds the announced estimate for 2026, without the company specifying a figure for 2027 in the cited statement. The guidance puts capital expansion plans at the forefront of what investors are watching after the results. The concerns cited by Axios center on the cost of investments in AI infrastructure.

By contrast, Amazon Web Services’ backlog rose to $578 billion in the third quarter of 2026, from $496 billion at the end of the second quarter, according to Axios. Jassy said on the earnings call that customers are taking up capacity "almost as fast as we’re adding it." The increase offers an indication of the volume of orders awaiting fulfillment at the cloud unit. Jassy linked this demand to the pace at which the company is adding capacity. The quarter-on-quarter comparison highlights the backlog’s growth from the end of the second quarter to the third.

For the fourth quarter of 2026, Amazon expects net sales of between $240 billion and $247 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 12% to 16%, according to the Associated Press. The average analyst estimate, according to FactSet, was $244.16 billion. That average falls within the company’s stated range, but remains a benchmark for comparing its guidance with market estimates. The forecast follows the shares’ after-hours decline amid investor scrutiny of spending, according to Axios. The projected sales range is the main forward-looking figure in the guidance for the coming quarter.

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