Amazon’s Trillion-Dollar Capex Gamble vs Shopify’s Lean Profitability Strategy

Quick Read

• Amazon's AWS deed its fastest unreality maturation successful 15 quarters portion Shopify's GMV crossed $100B for the archetypal time, with some stocks beating Q1 gross estimates.

• Amazon poured $44B into Q1 capex portion Shopify spent conscionable $5M, generating $476M successful escaped currency travel instead.

• Amazon's P/E of 31 versus Shopify's 121 makes Amazon the cheaper AI infrastructure bet, though Shopify's 34% gross maturation runs considerably hotter.

• Act now: the expert who called NVIDIA successful 2010 conscionable named his apical 10 AI stocks — and Amazon didn't marque the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) beryllium connected other sides of the aforesaid retail transaction.

Amazon owns the storefront, warehouse, and progressively the unreality powering everyone else. Shopify arms autarkic merchants competing against it. Both posted Q1 2026 results beating gross expectations, and the opposition reveals wherever commerce and AI wealth is flowing.

AWS Reaccelerates While Shopify Crosses $100B successful GMV

Amazon reported $181.519 cardinal successful revenue, up 16.61%, with EPS of $2.78 against a $1.653 estimate. AWS drove the headline, hitting $37.587 cardinal successful unreality revenue, up 28%, the fastest gait successful 15 quarters.

Andy Jassy told investors the chips concern (Trainium, Graviton, Nitro) crossed a "$20 cardinal gross tally complaint (growing triple digits year-over-year)". Advertising cleared $70 cardinal trailing 12 months, a existent 2nd engine.

Shopify reported $3.17 cardinal successful revenue, but maturation ran hotter astatine 34.32%, accelerating from 27% successful Q1 2025. Merchant Solutions grew 39% to $2.42 billion. GMV crossed $100.74 cardinal for the 4th for the archetypal time, up 35%.

Operating income astir doubled to $382 million, though a $941 cardinal mark-to-market equity deed pushed GAAP nett income to antagonistic $581 million. Underlying nett was $360 million.

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One Builds the AI Backbone, the Other Arms Merchants

Amazon is spending similar a utility. Q1 capex was $44.203 billion, up 76.68%. Anthropic committed to up to 5 GW of Trainium capacity, OpenAI to astir 2 GW. Polymarket traders delegate a 98.5% probability that Amazon 2026 capex exceeds $170B, and 86.5% supra $200B. That is simply a important measure for AWS to justify.

Shopify took the other approach: capex of $5 million, escaped currency travel of $476 million, and $491 cardinal successful buybacks nether a caller $2 cardinal program. Merchant lending originations deed $1.349 billion, turning Shop Capital into a existent fiscal services line.