Wall Street Isn't Scared of AI Capex This Time, Fueling Amazon's Surge After Earnings

As tech giants陆续 released their earnings, semiconductor stocks rebounded strongly on Thursday (30th). NVIDIA (NVDA-US) rose 1.9% to $193.66, while peers Intel (INTC-US) and AMD (AMD-US) surged 13% and 14% respectively. Despite earlier market concerns over rising capital expenditures (Capex) by large tech firms, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX-US) jumped 8% on Thursday after five consecutive days of declines, showing strong recovery momentum.

Amazon (AMZN-US) emerged as a focal point after reporting exceptionally strong second-quarter results on Thursday afternoon. The company's quarterly revenue reached $201 billion, a 20% year-over-year increase, surpassing expectations. Its earnings per share (EPS) came in at $5.75, far exceeding both last year's $1.68 and market estimates, largely driven by a $53 billion non-operating gain from its stake in private AI firm Anthropic.

In terms of AI infrastructure investment, Amazon demonstrated an aggressive stance. CEO Andrew Jassy announced raising the 2026 capital expenditure guidance from $200 billion to $220 billion. Unlike Alphabet (GOOGL-US), which saw its stock decline following a similar spending plan, Amazon's shares rose nearly 10% in after-hours trading, indicating investor confidence in its AI investment potential.

Currently, AI cloud demand on AWS still exceeds supply, and the company has already raised AI server rental prices twice this year.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) remains the company's profit engine, with sales growth of 37% this quarter and an operating margin rising to 39%, contributing 61% of the company's total operating profit. Despite facing negative free cash flow for two consecutive quarters due to massive data center construction investments, Amazon filled the funding gap by adding $63 billion in long-term debt. However, continued growth in its advertising and subscription businesses supports overall financial performance.

For NVIDIA, the stock rebound may be linked to its valuation reaching historical lows. According to data, NVIDIA's current forward P/E ratio stands at just 17.53x, the lowest level since April 2015. With such a low P/E ratio, a further stock price increase appears to be only a matter of time.