Amazon Bets Big on AI and Satellites: Revenue Grows While Cash Flow Declines

On February 5, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced that its fourth-quarter 2025 revenue reached $213.4 billion, up 14% year-over-year, and that full-year revenue rose 12% to $716.9 billion (approximately KRW 970 trillion). Despite one-time charges in Q4 related to the resolution of an Italian tax dispute, workforce reductions and impairments of its physical stores, both operating income and net income increased, driven by 24% growth in AWS and 22% growth in advertising. With infrastructure investments in AI, custom chips and satellite internet ramping up, capital expenditures surged, pushing trailing-12-month free cash flow down to $11.2 billion (around KRW 15 trillion). The company projected first-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 11–15% and operating income of $16.5–21.5 billion (roughly KRW 22–29 trillion), noting that costs would rise due to investments in its satellite communications unit, Amazon Leo, and international quick-commerce ventures.

Separately, in mid-February, Douglas Herrington, CEO of Amazon’s Global Stores division, converted restricted shares and sold a portion of his holdings under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. According to the filing, the transaction represented a limited percentage of his total stake.

Meanwhile, on February 12, Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6 rocket completed its first commercial mission by deploying 32 Amazon Leo high-speed internet satellites into low Earth orbit, accelerating Amazon’s satellite broadband rollout. Formerly known as Project Kuiper, Amazon Leo aims to field over 3,200 satellites to provide low-latency internet service worldwide, with multiple additional launches scheduled for 2026.

Amazon, a U.S. Big Tech company, has grown on the twin pillars of e-commerce and cloud computing in North America and Europe, with AWS consistently holding a leading share of the global cloud market. The company is now diversifying into AI infrastructure, advertising, logistics automation and satellite internet, positioning AI, cloud and satellite communications as the next competitive frontier among global Big Tech players.