AMZN burned -$8.8B in free cash flow last quarter, but META's slim $784M surplus masks deeper structural risk with no cloud revenue to recoup hardware costs. AWS hit a 39% margin with a $496B backlog, giving Amazon a metered cash recovery loop that Meta's ad-only model cannot match. It sounds nuts, but SoFi1 is giving new Active Invest users up to $3,000 in stock for a limited time, and all it takes is a $50 deposit to get started.2 See for yourself (Sponsor) Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Meta (NASDAQ: META) both reported second-quarter results in late July, revealing the same pressure: AI infrastructure is consuming cash.
Amazon spent $53.1 billion on capex in a single quarter. Meta spent $31.1 billion. The question is which giant faces the bigger cash flow problem.
Amazon's quarter was carried by AWS, which grew 36.7% year-over-year to $42.2 billion, the fastest pace in 18 quarters. Backlog reached $496 billion. Andy Jassy told investors AI and chips each cleared $25 billion run rates with triple-digit growth.
Trainium is locked into multi-gigawatt contracts with Anthropic and OpenAI. Meta's revenue rose 27.96% to $60.8 billion, with ad impressions up 14% and average price per ad up 12%. Operating income fell 8.15%, margin compressed from 43% to 31%, and EPS of $6.18 came in 14.42% below expectations, snapping a six-quarter streak.
Amazon rents its buildout. Jassy said data centers monetize starting two years after ground breaks, with server gear typically breaks even in a little less than three years, and most AI capacity locked into 5-year contracts. That creates a visible cash-back loop.
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