Amazon Web Services (AWS) is currently facing growth challenges as it is struggling to meet the surging AI demand due to capacity constraints. It fell short of market expectations despite reporting a 19% increase in fourth-quarter revenue to $28.8 billion. This has led to a 4% drop in Amazon’s stock in after-hours trading.

CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged that AWS could be growing even faster if not for limitations in its data centers. Some of the primary issues are a shortage of AI chips, server components like motherboards and energy supply. These factors are critical for expanding cloud infrastructure.

This challenge is not unique to AWS and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood recently admitted that the company is in a pretty constrained capacity place. Google executives stated that AI demand had outpaced their available resources by the end of 2024. Cloud providers are struggling to expand their infrastructure quickly enough to keep up as AI adoption accelerates.

However, Jassy remains optimistic despite the short-term challenges. He emphasized that the AI business of AWS is on track to generate billions in annual revenue and simultaneously expects supply constraints to ease in the second half of 2025. Amazon has committed to an aggressive capital expenditure plan of $105 billion for 2025 to prepare for the huge demand. It follows a record-high $26.3 billion in spending during the fourth quarter alone.

Amazon’s massive investment in infrastructure suggests that it is positioning itself for long-term dominance in the AI-driven cloud computing space. AWS could be well-placed to capitalize on the growing demand for AI-powered cloud services if supply issues ease as expected.