Amazon CEO takes aim at Nvidia, Intel, Starlink, more in annual shareholder letter
Andy Jassy’s Strategic Messages to Competitors
In his latest annual letter to Amazon shareholders, CEO Andy Jassy delivered pointed, though carefully worded, messages to major industry players including Nvidia, Intel, and Starlink. Blending business analysis with personal anecdotes, Jassy detailed Amazon’s ongoing vision as the company ramps up its investment in artificial intelligence, chip design, and cloud infrastructure.
Challenging Nvidia in AI Chips
Jassy acknowledged Amazon’s strong partnership with Nvidia, noting that the vast majority of AI workloads still rely on Nvidia hardware. However, he underscored a notable shift: customers now seek better price and performance from AI hardware, turning to Amazon’s own Trainium chips. According to Jassy, demand for Trainium is so high that even future models—like Trainium4, still 18 months from launch—are nearly sold out. He claims the annual run rate of the company’s chip business could reach $50 billion if Amazon sold chips externally.
Graviton’s Success Against Intel
Amazon’s Graviton CPU, a direct competitor to Intel’s x86 chips, continues to win traction with enterprise customers. Jassy revealed that 98% of the top 1,000 AWS EC2 clients use Graviton-based instances, with some customers requesting to purchase all available capacity for the coming year. While Amazon must balance demand, this signals significant momentum for its custom hardware.
Competing with Starlink
Amazon’s satellite internet project, named Leo and set for a mid-2026 launch, has already secured contracts with major partners like Delta Airlines, AT&T, Vodafone, and NASA. Jassy hinted at broader ambitions beyond connectivity, including the possibility of Amazon packaging its robotics data and technology for industrial and consumer use in the future.
Investing for Growth
A central theme of the letter was Jassy’s defense of Amazon’s substantial capital expenditures, expected to hit $200 billion in 2026—mostly allocated to AWS data center expansion. With high-profile agreements, such as OpenAI pledging up to $100 billion in AWS spending, Amazon is doubling down on infrastructure to secure long-term growth, despite recent volatility in its stock price. Jassy assured shareholders that multiple large, yet unannounced, deals further support this spending strategy.
Looking Ahead
Jassy closed the letter by addressing doubts about the potential of AI and technology investment bubbles, affirming Amazon’s commitment to its ambitious strategy.
For more details, you can read the full article by Julie Bort at TechCrunch.
