Amazon operates Amazon Web Services, the cloud-computing platform commonly known as AWS.
AWS began offering services publicly in 2006, initially providing tools such as Amazon Simple Storage Service and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. These products let organizations store data and rent computing capacity without building all of their own physical infrastructure.
Amazon’s business is broader than online retail. Its major activities include e-commerce marketplaces, logistics, digital advertising, video and music services, devices, and cloud computing. AWS became especially important because cloud infrastructure can serve startups, governments, universities, and large enterprises at global scale.
A common mix-up is to identify Microsoft as the owner of AWS; Microsoft operates Azure instead. Google operates Google Cloud, while Amazon’s cloud division remains AWS.