Amazon profits surge 35% as AI investments drive growth

San Francisco, United States: Amazon reported a 35 percent jump in quarterly profits Thursday as the e commerce giant said major investments in artifi...

San Francisco, United States: Amazon reported a 35 percent jump in quarterly profits Thursday as the e-commerce giant said major investments in artificial intelligence began paying off.

The Seattle-based company posted net profit of $18.2 billion for the second quarter that ended June 30, compared with $13.5 billion in the same period last year.

Net sales climbed 13 percent to $167.7 billion, beating analyst expectations and signaling that the global company was surviving the impacts of the high-tariff trade policy under US President Donald Trump.

"Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out," said Chief Executive Andy Jassy, pointing to the company's expanded Alexa+ service and new AI shopping agents.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's world leading cloud computing division, led the charge with sales jumping 17.5 percent to $30.9 billion.