Amazon’s long-term debt has soared to nearly $129 billion, almost doubling from last year’s $65 billion. This explosive growth is driven by an unprecedented $220 billion capital expenditure plan focused on expanding data centers to maintain AWS’s lead in the AI race. CEO Andy Jassy stresses that these massive investments aren’t optional but critical to meet relentless customer demand.

Why AWS is Betting Big on AI Infrastructure

Amazon raised its 2026 capex forecast from an already staggering $200 billion to $220 billion, supported by a recent $25 billion bond issuance. AWS posted $129 billion in revenue for Q2 2025, marking a 20% year-over-year increase. Jassy’s aggressive spending is a response to sustained demand from enterprises hungry for cloud computing power and AI services. Amazon’s approach mirrors moves by Microsoft, Google, and Meta, all pouring billions into data center expansion.

Bitcoin Miners Become Unlikely Partners in the AI Boom

A surprising player in this story is the Bitcoin mining sector. Cipher Mining inked a $5.5 billion, 15-year deal to supply AWS with 300 megawatts of AI-ready power, with operations kicking off in 2026. Essentially, this transforms a Bitcoin miner into a power infrastructure landlord for one of the largest cloud providers. This deal highlights a broader shift where miners use their existing power capacity and facilities to support hyperscale AI computing.

Bitcoin miners have secured over $70 billion in AI and high-performance computing contracts. Analysts predict that by late 2026, more than 70% of revenues for publicly traded miners could come from AI-related work. This pivot helps miners hedge against Bitcoin’s price swings by diversifying into enterprise computing infrastructure.

For investors, this signals a major structural change in the mining industry. The value of these companies is increasingly tied to AI contract backlogs and power capacity rather than solely their Bitcoin holdings. The new framework demands a fresh look at mining stocks through the lens of their AI partnerships and infrastructure capabilities.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.