Amazon’s Q2 Results Prove Just How Powerful AWS Cloud Is

Amazon Web Services made $1.8 billion (£1.2bn) in revenue for the second quarter of Amazon’s 2015 financial year, boosting the cloud computing division’s sales to just under $6 billion (£3.9bn) in the past year.

AWS revenue skyrocketed 81 percent year over year, with an operating margin of 21 percent in the second quarter. Compared to Amazon’s US retail operating margin of 5 percent, Amazon’s cloud division is sitting pretty.

Stocks soared

Amazon stock soared almost 17 percent in after-hours trading Thursday evening, with the company as whole beating analyst expectations.

“The teams at Amazon have been working hard for customers,” said Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. “[We] continued to double down on our fastest growing geography —India, launched 350 significant AWS features and services so far this year (ahead of last year’s pace), introduced AWS Educate, and entered into agreements for new solar and wind farms —enough to exceed our 2016 goal of 40 percent renewable energy.”

AWS’ operating income stood at almost $400 million (£258m) for the second quarter, accounting for nearly 40 percent of Amazon’s consolidated-segment operating income.

Amazon’s results now pull itself and its three main cloud rivals into a significant growth lead, compared to the other cloud providers.

Q2 data from Synergy Research Group shows that in aggregate AWS, Microsoft, IBM and Google now control well over half of the worldwide cloud infrastructure service market. Their combined market share rose to 54 percent in the latest quarter compared with 46 percent in Q2 2014 and 41 percent in Q2 2013.

As a result, each of the big four cloud providers increased their share of the worldwide market in Q2, with AWS maintaining its clear number one ranking with a 29 percent market share.

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