New York, June 18, 2026, 15:10 (EDT)
- Amazon climbed about 2.4% in afternoon trade. That’s close to the gain in the Nasdaq-100 tracker QQQ and ahead of the move in the S&P 500 ETF SPY.
- Bloomberg Law reported Amazon is holding talks to sell its custom AI chips to outside data centers.
- Amazon’s Prime Day is on the calendar for June 23-26, staying a four-day event. The retail push comes ahead of Amazon’s second-quarter earnings.
Amazon.com shares gained in Thursday afternoon trade after a report said the company is in talks to sell its custom AI chips to external data-center firms, a step that could move Amazon further into a space where Nvidia has led for years.
Shares traded up 2.4% to $243.25, hitting a high of $245.72 earlier. The S&P 500 ETF SPY gained 0.8%. QQQ, which tracks tech, also climbed 2.4%.
Amazon’s stock is tied to whether its big AI spending can quickly become real revenue. A chip sale would offer investors a simpler pitch than just building more data centers and waiting.
Amazon’s AI lead Peter DeSantis said in an interview with Bloomberg Law the company has started talks on AI infrastructure but didn’t give names for any possible customers. “AI infrastructure” is “rapidly evolving,” DeSantis said. Amazon is trying to find new ways to reach “more customers,” he added. Bloomberg Law
Nvidia shares rose around 2.5% on Thursday. The action suggests traders didn’t see Amazon as a direct threat. Still, by selling even some chips to outsiders, Amazon can position its Trainium and related silicon as more than just ways to save costs for AWS, its cloud arm.
AWS made some news for investors this week at its New York summit. Amazon rolled out new products: AWS Continuum, AWS Context, Amazon Quick, and Bedrock AgentCore. These tools target “agentic AI,” which Amazon says helps software act and plan with less human input. According to Amazon, tasks run by agents on AgentCore jumped 15 times in the last six months. Amazon News
WPP Enterprise Solutions on Thursday announced a multi-year strategic collaboration with AWS aimed at putting generative and agentic AI tools into practical use for brands. CEO Jeff Geheb said clients are focused on moving AI “from experiments into operating systems.” WPP.com
Amazon’s April quarter numbers were out. AWS sales jumped 28% to $37.6 billion. CEO Andy Jassy said AWS showed its “fastest growth in 15 quarters.” Amazon reported its chips business hit a $20 billion revenue run rate. Free cash flow dropped to $1.2 billion as spending on AI-related property and equipment picked up. Amazon
Prime Day is moving up for traders watching retail. Amazon has shifted the sale to June 23-26, after five years in July, blaming the World Cup and the U.S. 250th Independence Day calendar. In 2025, the four-day sale pushed $24.1 billion in U.S. online sales, according to Reuters and Adobe Analytics. Walmart stays Amazon’s key retail rival because both compete on fast grocery and same-day delivery.
Investors are betting on the stock tying up a few separate stories at once, with none of them a sure thing yet. Chip discussions could fizzle into nothing. AI agents haven’t yet moved the needle for AWS revenue. The bump from the capex bill is already showing in free cash flow. If Prime Day disappoints, or if there’s more talk that AI spending is getting out in front of real demand, Thursday’s bounce may not hold up.
Amazon heads into the Juneteenth holiday break with momentum. U.S. stock markets are trading as normal on Thursday but will be closed Friday, June 19, for Juneteenth, Nasdaq’s holiday schedule shows. Looking ahead, the focus is on whether AWS monetization and consumer spending can both stay strong together.
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