As a result of the quarterly report publication, shares of Amazon, one of the largest American IT companies, significantly dropped in price. In evening trading on February 5, a 10% decline was observed on the NASDAQ exchange; however, by the close of the session, the drop was reduced to 4.4%, as reported by Bloomberg.
The company's financial results generally met analysts' expectations: revenue increased by 14%, reaching $213.4 billion, while net profit amounted to $21.2 billion.
The main reason for the negative reaction from investors was Amazon's plans for significant investments in artificial intelligence. The company intends to invest in chip purchases, equipment, and the construction of new data centers. Investors express concerns that such large expenditures may not pay off and may not yield the expected returns even in the long term.
Forecasts suggest that the company's total investments could reach around $200 billion by 2026. Part of these funds is planned to be allocated for launching satellites that will compete with SpaceX's Starlink system, but the majority will be invested specifically in AI-related projects.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, while speaking with analysts, noted that the company will continue to actively invest in artificial intelligence, aiming to take a leading position in the market. Nevertheless, investors have begun to doubt that such a large-scale investment program will lead to sufficient returns.
A similar situation was previously observed with other tech giants. After reports of rising AI expenses were published, shares of Microsoft and Alphabet also showed significant declines, with Microsoft's drop being one of the largest in the company's history.
