Amazon operates Amazon Web Services, one of the world’s largest cloud-computing businesses.
Amazon Web Services, usually called AWS, launched in 2006 and provides on-demand computing power, storage, databases, content delivery, and other internet infrastructure. Customers include startups, governments, universities, and major corporations.
Amazon began as an online bookseller founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, but it expanded into a broad company covering e-commerce, logistics, advertising, digital entertainment, devices, and cloud services. AWS became especially important because cloud infrastructure can produce substantial operating income even when retail margins are comparatively thin.
AWS is sometimes mistaken for a separate publicly traded company. It is a business segment of Amazon.com, Inc., whose shares trade under the symbol AMZN.