Amazon launched Amazon Web Services in 2006, creating a major cloud-computing business.
AWS began with services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service, introduced in 2006, and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, also launched that year. These products let developers rent storage and computing capacity over the internet instead of purchasing and operating all the necessary hardware.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and began as an online bookstore. It expanded into general e-commerce, logistics, devices, digital media, advertising, and cloud infrastructure.
Amazon’s retail business and AWS are often discussed separately, but both contribute to the company’s overall financial results. AWS became one of the most important commercial cloud platforms and helped diversify Amazon beyond online shopping.