Amazon Is Trying to Position Itself as an AI Leader. Is It Working?

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) recently launched a new website for Alexa+, the latest iteration of its AI chatbot. While it's only available to a limited number of early access users, the eventual goal for the Alexa+ site is to better compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

This recent move highlights Amazon's effort to catch up with its artificial intelligence rivals. I think Alexa+ is far less likely to become users' go-to AI agent than ChatGPT or Gemini at this point, considering ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users and Gemini already has 650 million monthly users.

But its latest chatbot update aside, Amazon is positioning itself to benefit from AI for years to come, including striking a major deal with OpenAI. And it could help Amazon become a much more significant AI player very soon. Here's how.

Image source: Getty Images.

OpenAI deals could push Amazon further ahead

Amazon scored a very large deal with OpenAI in November in which the company will pay for Amazon Web Services (AWS) computing power -- to the tune of about $38 billion over the next seven years.

The deal isn't an investment for either company; instead, it will make OpenAI a significant customer of AWS. Just a few years ago, it would have been far less likely for Amazon to get OpenAI as a customer because Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) early investment in OpenAI gave it a first right of refusal for cloud computing services.

But the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI has changed, paving the way for Amazon to benefit from one of the world's foremost AI chatbot companies. Not only is the deal significant for Amazon because of the potential revenue, but also because Amazon has been losing ground in the cloud computing market recently.

At the end of the third quarter of 2025, AWS had 29% of the cloud computing market, compared to Microsoft Azure's 20% and Google Cloud's 13%. While still in the lead, AWS's share of the cloud was higher a few years ago, at about 34% before ChatGPT debuted in 2022. With OpenAI now a significant AWS customer, Amazon could see its cloud computing market share gain ground again.

And there could be another deal with OpenAI in the works. The Information reported last month that Amazon is in talks with OpenAI about potentially investing at least $10 billion into the AI company. The move could give Amazon access to more AI tech and would also give OpenAI some of Amazon's Trainium AI processors.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but a deal like this could help Amazon establish itself as more of an AI peer with Alphabet and Microsoft, which also design their own AI processors.

Amazon's $2 trillion opportunity

Based on its new announcements of Alexa+, its cloud computing deal, and potential investment with OpenAI, it's clear that Amazon is working to gain a bigger footing in the artificial intelligence space.

I think what the company does with consumer chatbots and Alexa+ is less important than the AWS deals it makes. Amazon relies on its cloud computing company as its main source of profit -- accounting for about 66% of its third-quarter operating income.

And there's plenty of room for more growth. Goldman Sachs estimates that artificial intelligence will generate $2 trillion in global AI cloud computing spending by 2030.

With Amazon already striking major deals, the company is well on its way to utilizing its cloud computing prowess to gain more ground in AI.

Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Goldman Sachs Group, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.