As with any investment, your capital is at risk.
Jon Henry (JH): In the past, the thrill of shopping from home meant flipping through hefty catalogues, placing an order by mail, and then waiting weeks for your purchase to arrive. Well, now almost anything that you want can be delivered to your door within hours. This remarkable shift is largely thanks to one pioneering company, Amazon. But Amazon’s impact doesn’t stop at shopping. It has also built the digital foundation of our modern world. Amazon Web Services, or AWS as you might know it, is the invisible backbone of the internet, quietly powering the apps and data that are integral to our everyday lives.
There are three key reasons why Amazon’s special. Firstly, it is relentlessly innovative. Amazon’s culture drives long-term value. AWS alone adds enough computing capacity daily to run a Fortune 500 company, for example. Second, its core services have become the infrastructure that we can depend on. How many times has Amazon come to the rescue and delivered something next day that you desperately needed? Well, 250 million Prime subscribers pay to access that service today. And thirdly, its diverse ecosystem, from retail and cloud to advertising and subscriptions. Amazon’s revenue streams are broad and growing.
Scale is no growth limiter for Amazon. With £100 billion of AI spending pledged this year alone, it’s set to build more data centres and custom chips to process exponentially more data. AWS will become an indispensable business partner for more companies who will come to rely on more of its web services. Think about the expanding global financial firm whose workers log into the secure cloud workspaces hosted by Amazon, access their real-time analytics, provided by AWS Redshift, deploy new code using AWS CodePipeline, all with peace of mind that AWS Shield and GuardDuty is continuously monitoring security.
For merchants, Amazon’s reach and ad targeting will be the best way to grow, whether you’re an artisan candlemaker or a global clothing brand. For customers, hyper-personalised experiences will become the norm. Imagine AI assistants like Rufus or Alexa planning your week, buying your outfits and delivering groceries at your convenience. Amazon’s future can’t be captured in a spreadsheet. Its culture of innovation and its day-one mindset mean that we’re still early in its journey. The best is yet to come.
Risk factors
This communication was produced and approved in November 2025 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time and may not reflect current thinking.
The views expressed should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions.
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About the speakers
Jon is an investment specialist in the Clients Department. He joined Baillie Gifford in 2011 and has been in the Global Alpha Team since 2014. Jon liaises with institutional investors in the Global Alpha Strategy and shareholders on the Monks Investment Trust. Jon previously spent three years at AEGON Asset Management. He graduated MA (Hons)in Business Studies from the University of Edinburgh in 2007.
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