Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the cloud computing platform and technology-services business of Amazon.com, Inc. It supplies on-demand computing infrastructure and higher-level software services to startups, enterprises, public-sector organizations, developers, media companies, financial institutions, and other customers worldwide. Rather than requiring customers to purchase and operate all of their own servers and data-center equipment, AWS allows them to obtain resources through the internet and generally pay according to usage, contracted commitments, or service plans. AWS grew out of Amazon's effort to standardize and expose the reusable infrastructure that supported its own retail website. Amazon had developed internal capabilities for storage, computing, databases, networking, and application deployment, and in the early 2000s began offering web services to outside developers. The modern AWS platform took shape in 2006 with the launch of Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). These services helped establish an infrastructure-as-a-service model in which customers could provision storage and virtual servers without building a conventional data center first. The platform has since expanded into a broad portfolio. Core infrastructure includes EC2 virtual machines, Elastic Container Service, Elastic Kubernetes Service, AWS Lambda serverless computing, and networking tools such as Amazon Virtual Private Cloud. Storage and data services include S3, Elastic Block Store, Glacier, and a wide range of relational, NoSQL, in-memory, and analytical databases. AWS also offers security, identity, monitoring, developer tools, content delivery, edge computing, migration, high-performance computing, Internet of Things, and industry-specific solutions. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become increasingly important to AWS's positioning. Amazon SageMaker provides tools for developing and deploying machine-learning models, while Amazon Bedrock gives developers managed access to generative-AI foundation models and supporting application capabilities. AWS also develops purpose-built silicon, including Graviton processors and Trainium and Inferentia chips, intended to improve the cost and performance of cloud workloads. AWS operates through a global infrastructure of regions, availability zones, data centers, and edge locations. Customers can design systems for resilience, regulatory requirements, latency, and geographic redundancy. The AWS Marketplace extends the platform with third-party software and services, while a large partner network supports consulting, migration, integration, and managed operations. The brand is positioned around breadth, scalability, reliability, security, and a consumption-based operating model. Its customers range from small developers deploying individual applications to multinational corporations running core enterprise workloads. AWS is a separately managed business within Amazon, but its financial results are reported by Amazon rather than through a separately traded company. The supplied industry classification of energy and oil-and-gas companies does not fit the subject; AWS belongs to cloud computing and enterprise information technology.

AWS developed from Amazon's internal technology infrastructure. As Amazon's online retail operation expanded, engineers created reusable services for storage, computing, databases, and application deployment. The company increasingly treated these capabilities as standardized building blocks rather than systems usable only by Amazon's retail business. This approach supported the idea that external developers could rent infrastructure through application programming interfaces instead of purchasing hardware and managing physical facilities. Amazon began introducing web services to outside users in the early 2000s. Reference material places an initial AWS presence in 2002, when the business offered services connected with Amazon's catalog and developer infrastructure. The more consequential transformation occurred in 2006, when Amazon launched S3 and EC2. S3 provided durable, internet-accessible object storage, while EC2 allowed customers to obtain virtual computing capacity on demand. Together they helped popularize cloud infrastructure as a practical alternative to owning fixed server capacity. The early AWS proposition appealed particularly to startups and software developers, who could experiment and scale without large up-front capital expenditure. Over time, AWS added services for networking, databases, application deployment, security, monitoring, content distribution, analytics, and enterprise migration. The platform's architecture allowed customers to combine relatively independent services, while regional infrastructure and availability zones supported high availability and geographic deployment choices. AWS became increasingly important to Amazon's corporate strategy. It extended Amazon's technology expertise into a business serving organizations beyond retail and created recurring usage-based revenue. Amazon expanded AWS's customer and partner ecosystem through training, certifications, consulting relationships, and AWS Marketplace, where third parties distribute software and services compatible with the platform. The company also invested in specialized hardware and global data-center capacity to improve performance, security, and economics. Leadership of the business changed as AWS matured. Andy Jassy led AWS during its formative period and later became Amazon's chief executive. Adam Selipsky succeeded him as AWS chief executive in 2021, and Matt Garman became AWS chief executive in 2024. During this period the business broadened its emphasis from basic infrastructure to data, machine learning, generative AI, custom processors, industry solutions, and privacy-oriented data collaboration. AWS's current scope spans infrastructure as a service, platform services, managed databases, storage, analytics, artificial intelligence, security, edge computing, developer tooling, and third-party software distribution. It remains a brand and operating business within Amazon rather than an independently listed company. The subject should therefore be classified as a cloud-computing corporate brand, not as an energy or oil-and-gas company.

1. 2024Matt Garman becomes AWS CEO

   Matt Garman succeeded Adam Selipsky as chief executive of AWS.

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2. 2023Amazon Bedrock introduced

   AWS introduced Bedrock to help developers build generative-AI applications using managed foundation models.

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3. 2021Adam Selipsky becomes AWS CEO

   Adam Selipsky returned to Amazon to lead AWS after Andy Jassy became Amazon chief executive.

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4. 2006Launch of Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2

   AWS introduced object storage through Amazon S3 and on-demand virtual computing through Amazon EC2, establishing the foundation of its cloud infrastructure business.

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5. 2002Early Amazon Web Services offerings

   Amazon began offering external web services associated with its technology and developer infrastructure, preceding the modern AWS cloud platform.

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A broad, global cloud infrastructure and platform-services provider emphasizing scalable, pay-as-you-go technology, enterprise security, ecosystem breadth, and developer flexibility.

• Amazon EC2Cloud computing2006

  A service providing resizable virtual computing capacity. Customers can select instance types, operating systems, networking configurations, and pricing models for workloads ranging from development environments to large-scale production applications.

• Amazon S3Cloud storage2006

  An object-storage service designed for durable storage and retrieval of data at internet scale. It is used for application assets, backups, data lakes, media, archives, and machine-learning data.

• Amazon RDSDatabase services2009

  A managed relational-database service that automates or simplifies provisioning, maintenance, backups, scaling, and high-availability configurations for supported database engines.

• AWS LambdaServerless computing2014

  An event-driven compute service that runs code without requiring customers to provision or manage servers. It is commonly used for APIs, automation, data processing, and application back ends.

• Amazon SageMakerMachine learning2017

  A managed environment for preparing data, developing machine-learning models, training them, and deploying them for inference and production use.

• Amazon BedrockGenerative artificial intelligence2023

  A managed generative-AI service that provides access to foundation models and development capabilities for applications that generate or analyze text, images, and other content.

• AWS MarketplaceSoftware marketplace2012

  A catalog and procurement channel through which customers discover, evaluate, and acquire third-party software, data, and professional services that can be deployed with AWS.

• 2025AWS is How — Proven

  United States · United Kingdom · International

  A global brand campaign used customer stories to illustrate how AWS supports innovation in areas such as autonomous parking, large-scale game delivery, and motorsport technology. Its modular production format allowed scenes and customer examples to be adapted for different markets.

  Outcome. The campaign was scheduled to run across television, social media, and out-of-home channels, with expansion from the United States into additional markets.

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• 2023AWS for Advertising and Marketing

  Global

  AWS introduced an industry initiative combining AWS services, partner solutions, and privacy-oriented data collaboration for advertising and marketing workloads, including measurement, analytics, customer experience, and audience use cases.

  Outcome. The initiative positioned AWS as infrastructure and analytics support for advertising organizations rather than only as a general-purpose hosting provider.

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• 2024Change AWS chief executiveOther

  Adam Selipsky announced his departure after leading AWS, requiring Amazon to appoint new operating leadership for the cloud business.

  What changed. Matt Garman became chief executive of AWS.

  Aftermath. The leadership transition maintained continuity while placing a long-serving AWS executive at the head of the business.

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• 2023Expand into managed generative-AI application servicesProduct launch

  Businesses and developers increasingly sought managed access to foundation models and tools for integrating generative AI into software products.

  What changed. AWS introduced Amazon Bedrock, offering managed access to foundation models and related application-development capabilities.

  Aftermath. The move broadened AWS's AI portfolio and intensified its competition in cloud-based generative-AI infrastructure and application services.

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• 2006Launch a public cloud infrastructure platformProduct launch

  Amazon had developed reusable internal infrastructure for its retail operations and identified demand for flexible computing and storage among external developers and businesses.

  What changed. Amazon launched Amazon S3 and Amazon EC2, allowing customers to obtain storage and virtual computing capacity through internet-based services.

  Aftermath. The launch established the modern AWS platform and supported the wider adoption of usage-based cloud infrastructure.

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• 2025AWS announces general availability of Amazon Marketing Cloud on AWS Clean Rooms

  AWS announced that advertisers could use Amazon Marketing Cloud with AWS Clean Rooms to combine selected first-party and Amazon Ads signals for audience discovery, planning, activation, and measurement without moving underlying data outside the customer's cloud environment.

  Product launchCampaign
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• 2025AWS launches the global “AWS is How” campaign

  The campaign presents customer examples from companies including BMW, Epic Games, and Formula 1, using a modular film concept to show how cloud technology supports operational and creative innovation. The campaign began in the United States and was planned for expansion into additional markets.

  Campaign
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• 2024Amazon Web Services leadership changes to Matt Garman

  Matt Garman became chief executive of AWS, succeeding the prior AWS chief executive as Amazon reorganized leadership of its cloud business.

  Leadership change
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• 2023Amazon Bedrock expands AWS's generative-AI platform

  Amazon introduced Bedrock as a managed service giving developers access to foundation models and tools for building generative-AI applications on AWS.

  Product launchProduct generation
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1. Cloud Computing Services — Amazon Web Services
2. AWS CEO leadership announcement
3. Adam Selipsky to retire as AWS CEO
4. Introducing AWS for Advertising & Marketing
5. Amazon Marketing Cloud on AWS Clean Rooms
6. AWS is How — Proven campaign reference
7. Amazon.com overview
8. Amazon Web Services leadership changes to Matt Garman