After Microsoft and Google, tonight it is Amazon's and Apple's turn. Both companies will publish quarterly results after the Wall Street close, and Amazon's investor call starts at 5 p.m. New York time, 11 p.m. in Israel.
Amazon: all about AWS
According to estimates compiled by GeekWire and Benzinga, analysts expect revenue of about $202 billion, up 12%, and about 37% growth at AWS, the cloud unit, to about $45.4 billion. The big worry is spending: Amazon has said it will invest about $220 billion in infrastructure this year, and its free cash flow for the 12 months ended in June was negative, minus $7.6 billion. Yesterday the market punished Alphabet for similar spending, so investors will look for signs of discipline.
The Israeli angle: Annapurna Labs
A central part of Amazon's strategy is its Trainium chips, meant to reduce its dependence on Nvidia. Those chips are developed by Annapurna Labs, an Israeli chip company Amazon bought in 2015 whose R&D center is in Israel. Every update on Trainium demand is also an update on one of Amazon's most important development teams worldwide, based here. In the background, according to reports from mid-month, Amazon is also in talks to buy Israel's Decart, which develops software that improves AI chip performance.
Apple: the iPhone and AI
At Apple, investors will focus on iPhone sales in a quarter that included the launch of the new models, and on how the company is progressing in AI, a field where it is seen as lagging its rivals. We will update here when the results are out.
