Amazon is a technology company whose main businesses are e-commerce and cloud computing through AWS. Recent coverage has focused on its AI infrastructure spending: over $77 billion on property and equipment in Q3, 2026 cash capex expected at about $220 billion, and an $80 billion supplier loan facility. Amazon also scaled back most Nova models, reorganized AI teams, added 100+ shopping features to Alexa, and saw its shares fall after capex came in above expectations.
AI May Force States to Rethink Tax SystemsLe Monde reports that tech giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon have borrowed $500 billion this year for data centers, with AI now accounting for 25% of private bond issuance, up from 4% two years ago. This crowding-out effect is pushing up interest rates and may force states to rethink tax systems.
NYC Moves Toward AI Regulation as Unions, Whistleblowers TestifyNew York City held a hearing where union leaders and whistleblowers testified about AI's threat to workers, pushing for regulation and protections. Related labor developments include NYU postdocs joining the UAW and DoorDash's $131 million settlement with NYC over wage theft claims.
Global Chip Selloff Spreads, Apple Launches Smart Home Push, Meta Releases New AI ModelThe chip selloff spread from Asia to the US, intensifying pressure. Apple released smart home devices including the HomeView Hub to challenge Amazon and Google. Meta launched a new AI model with "frontier capabilities" to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic.
Amazon in talks to buy Decart AI for ~$7B; IonQ to buy Elisity for up to $1.3BThe Wall Street Journal reported Amazon is in talks to acquire AI startup Decart AI in a deal valued at around $7 billion, which could close soon. Separately, IonQ agreed to buy Elisity for as much as $1.3 billion in an all-stock deal to expand its cybersecurity platform and help customers protect critical infrastructure in the quantum era. T-Mobile rose after a Raymond James upgrade.
Amazon deploys over 1 million robots in warehousesAmazon has over 1 million robots working in warehouses while remaining the world's second-largest corporate employer with more than 1.5 million human workers. Amazon says robots take on risky physical tasks, but labor advocates and researchers worry collaborative robots dictate the pace of work.
Amazon in talks to buy AI startup Decart for about $7BThe Wall Street Journal reports Amazon is in talks to acquire AI startup Decart AI in a deal valued at around $7 billion. If completed, it would be a major AI acquisition for Amazon.
Weekly Tech Roundup: SpaceX Wireless Push, Amazon Layoffs, OpenAI Revenue DropTech highlights for Oct. 5-9: Meta barred ByteDance from advertising in seven countries and joined Google DeepMind and others in putting $300 million into AI cell-prediction models; Meta's Muse assistant topped the U.S. App Store with over 5 million downloads; TSMC posted record quarterly revenue of NT$1.49 trillion, up 50% year over year, while OpenAI revenue fell and Amazon cut jobs.
Nicolas Cage Refuses Amazon AI Waiver, Likely Won't Work With Studio AgainNicolas Cage said at New York Comic Con that he refused to sign an AI waiver for Amazon's series Spider-Noir, calling himself not an AI-friendly actor and saying he likely won't work with the studio again. He noted Amazon invested $50 billion in OpenAI.
Amazon and Others End Data Center Deal Secrecy to Rebuild TrustAmazon will stop using NDAs in data center negotiations with local governments, following Microsoft's similar move earlier this year. Secrecy fueled community backlash against AI infrastructure, leading to hundreds of proposed and enacted moratoriums from New York to San Francisco.
Michael Burry deepens AI bet against, but still favors one stockHedge fund manager Michael Burry, known for shorting the U.S. housing market, has deepened his bearish bets against AI stocks, warning a crash may come sooner. The article weighs AI spending risks and names one stock still worth owning.
Alexa Plus: great for smart home, not ready for lifeA year-long review of Alexa Plus finds it impressive for smart home tasks and memory-based photo montages, but frustrating due to intrusive full-screen ads and failures to recognize the user, showing it is not yet a reliable life assistant.
Bain: AI infrastructure buildout needs $6T annual revenueBain projects annual AI infrastructure spending near $1.5 trillion by 2031 and $5-6.5 trillion cumulative data center spending through 2030, requiring AI market revenue approaching $6 trillion a year to justify. Power, electrical labor and community opposition are slowing projects.
Single Prompt Hijacked All AI Agents in an AWS Account, Zenity Researchers FindZenity Labs researchers found that a single publicly accessible AI agent on Amazon's Bedrock AgentCore could hijack all agents in the same AWS account and region. The attack exploited an internal AWS interface for temporary credentials. AWS has patched the issue and tightened default permissions.
Applied Materials vs. Nvidia: revenue trends comparedThe article compares Applied Materials and Nvidia revenue trends: Nvidia shows rapid quarterly growth, announced a $150 billion increase to its share repurchase authorization and finalized a deal to supply Amazon with two million GPUs, while Applied Materials is shifting gradually to higher quarterly revenue.
AI agents hit website blocks; new standard aims to helpPersonal AI agents such as Meta's Muse and ChatGPT's Dots can book and buy for users, but are often blocked by websites. Amazon deliberately blocks Muse, while Walmart says its blocks are unintentional anti-bot measures. A new standard aims to fix this access problem.
Amazon Alexa Plus Reportedly Stuck Repeating 'Lalala'Multiple Echo users on Reddit reported that Alexa Plus glitches, repeating only 'lalala' for minutes and appearing unaware when questioned. Amazon has acknowledged the issue, which affects several Echo speaker models.
This week in AI: Trump, Zuckerberg, Musk and NvidiaAI news dominated the week: Trump reportedly ruled out nationalizing OpenAI and Anthropic while considering equity stakes; Micron posted $54.23 billion in quarterly revenue, beating estimates; a California man was arrested over allegedly smuggling over $300 million worth of Nvidia GPU servers to China; and Amazon signed a 20-year nuclear power deal with Constellation for AI demand.
Amazon warns communities against blocking data centersAWS CEO Matt Garman published a 3,000-word blog arguing that blocking AI data centers would harm the U.S. economy and national security, blaming social media misinformation. The post addresses jobs, power, and environmental concerns.
Amazon pledges over $1B for data center communitiesFacing backlash over its massive AI data center buildout, Amazon has committed to spend more than $1 billion over the next five years on initiatives for communities near its server farms.
Amazon Seeks to Move $8 Billion of Chips Off BooksAmazon is exploring a deal to shift about $8 billion of Nvidia's top-end chips off its balance sheet, according to the Financial Times. The structure, which could involve chip financing or leasing arrangements, was not disclosed.
Amazon releases open-source decision model Strands Decider 2BAWS's Strands Labs released Strands Decider 2B, an open-source decision model inspired by Jev and built on Qen3.5-2B. It offers high-speed, low-cost sorting of pre-decided options with confidence scores, runs locally, and addresses agentic workflow needs for specialized decision components.
Indiana explores how to deal with the growing impact of artificial intelligenceNearly four years after ChatGPT's launch, about half of U.S. adults use chatbots and tech giants have poured hundreds of billions into AI. Indiana has nearly 60 operating data centers, sparking community pushback over resource use, while the Trump administration favors industry self-policing over regulation.
Meta Muse AI roundup: devices, enterprise push, security issuesMeta's Muse AI agent keeps expanding: new small-business tools, a planned enterprise platform, a standalone Muse Charm device and smart-glasses support; meanwhile, an address leak, an exploit and an Amazon block have surfaced.
Anthropic IPO filing shows $4.6B revenue, over $8B lossAnthropic's IPO prospectus shows 2025 revenue grew 12-fold to nearly $4.6 billion on an operating loss above $8 billion and a $42 billion net loss, with $20.28 billion in cash and short-term investments. It has committed $518 billion to computing over a decade, about 80% non-cancelable, and could be valued above $2 trillion.
Shopify opens checkout to browser-based AI agentsShopify has extended WebMCP support to checkout, letting browser-based AI agents read, update, and submit orders with buyer authorization, including via Shop Pay. The new tools get_checkout, update_checkout, and complete_checkout are rolling out to all eligible merchants, contrasting with platforms like Amazon that block agent purchases.
Data Center Depreciation Tax Break Saves Tech Giants BillionsThe bonus depreciation tax break, enacted in 2017 and made permanent last year, saves Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Alphabet billions this year, with Microsoft saving as much as $12 billion. Critics call it a giveaway for data center building that markets already drive, with 3,000 to 5,000 data centers active or planned in the US.
Apple Home AI Camera Features Tested Against Amazon and GoogleA Verge reporter tested Apple, Amazon and Google smart home camera AI features in real scenarios, comparing notification accuracy and video loading to help consumers choose an ecosystem.
US Tech Layoffs Outpace 2025 as Spending Shifts to AICrunchbase data shows US tech layoffs reached at least 94,046 from January to August 2026, up 16.8% year over year, with May's 31,513 cuts the highest since March 2023. Many cuts came as companies redirected spending to AI and restructured; AI was cited in 33% of layoff events, up from 1% in 2024.
Climate protesters target AI data centers, tech giantsDuring New York Climate Week, protesters picketed OpenAI, Google and Amazon offices over AI data center expansion, with a Brooklyn gas plant powering AI data centers as a target. At least $64 billion in proposed data center buildout was blocked from 2024 to 2026, and bans have passed in at least 18 states.
Tech Firms Discount AI Products to Rival OpenAI, AnthropicThe Information reports Amazon, Microsoft and Figma are discounting or bundling AI products as customers shift to OpenAI and Anthropic. FICO's CIO says it won't sign contracts where vendors don't discount or bundle AI capabilities.
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