Amazon has paused some data center lease negotiations for its cloud division, particularly in international markets, according to Wells Fargo analysts on Monday.
“This is routine capacity management, and there haven’t been any recent fundamental changes in our expansion plans,” said Kevin Miller, vice president of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Global Data Centers, in a LinkedIn post, first noted on Reuters.
The move by the largest U.S. cloud company is the latest sign that rising economic uncertainty could be forcing companies to rethink how they spend the billions of dollars they have earmarked for AI infrastructure including pricey Nvidia chips.
Wells Fargo analysts noted that Amazon’s pause was significant, but its extent was unclear, resembling Microsoft’s recent pullback.
Rather than canceling any signed deals, Amazon is “digesting aggressive recent lease-up deals,” the analysts said.
“It does appear like the hyperscalers (big cloud companies) are being more discerning with leasing large clusters of power, and tightening up pre-lease windows for capacity that (would) be delivered before the end of 2026,” they said in a note, adding that the likes of Meta, opens new tab, Alphabet-owned, opens new tab Google and Oracle, opens new tab remain active in leasing.
Amazon downplayed the note. “This is routine capacity management, and there haven’t been any recent fundamental changes in our expansion plans,” said Kevin Miller, vice president of Amazon Web Services Global Data Centers in a post on LinkedIn.
Microsoft has halted data center projects in the U.S. and Europe that were supposed to consume 2 gigawatts of electricity in the last six months. This decision was based on an oversupply compared to its current demand forecast, according to TD Cowen analysts in March.
Investor skepticism about U.S. tech firms’ significant spending on artificial intelligence is rising due to slow returns and the emergence of Chinese startup DeepSeek, which offers AI technology at a lower cost than Western competitors.
Amazon is heavily investing in generative AI by launching various chatbots for sellers, businesses, and consumers.
CEO Andy Jassy explained that the billions spent on artificial intelligence development this month were essential for staying competitive.