Amazon’s Strategic AI Overhaul Under CEO Andy Jassy

In a significant year-end strategic shift, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has consolidated the company's core future technologies into a single, unified division. The reorganization places artificial intelligence, proprietary chip development, and quantum computing initiatives under one leader, signaling Amazon's intent to streamline operations and enhance its competitive edge in the race for AI supremacy.

On December 17, Jassy announced the appointment of Peter DeSantis to head this newly established organization. A 27-year veteran at Amazon, DeSantis will now oversee the corporation's most advanced AI models—including Nova and the AGI team—alongside in-house processor development for Graviton, Trainium, and Nitro chips, and quantum computing research. His direct reporting line to the CEO underscores the strategic importance Amazon places on this consolidated structure.

This move coincides with the departure of Rohit Prasad, a key architect behind the AGI team and the development of Amazon Nova, who will leave the company at year's end. Having joined in 2013, Prasad played a pivotal role in shaping Alexa's evolution. While his exit represents a loss of institutional knowledge, Jassy highlighted the strong team and technological foundation Prasad leaves behind. Leadership of frontier model research will transition to Pieter Abbeel, a distinguished AI researcher specializing in generative AI and reinforcement learning.

Wall Street Anticipates Accelerated AWS Growth

This corporate restructuring aligns with increasingly optimistic analyst commentary. On December 16, BMO Capital Markets raised its price target for Amazon shares from $300 to $304, reaffirming its "Outperform" rating. The firm's research points to an anticipated acceleration in AWS revenue growth, projecting a rate of 24% for the first quarter of 2026. Discussions with former AWS employees suggested customers are making "significantly increasing cloud commitments." Analysts also view Amazon's $8 billion investment in Anthropic as a competitive advantage, noting that the availability of Claude AI on AWS strengthens the platform's appeal.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Amazon?

The broader analyst consensus, based on 46 ratings, remains a "Strong Buy," with an average price target of $284.70. This implies an approximate upside potential of 25% from current levels.

AWS Continues to Drive Profitability

Amazon Web Services demonstrated its strongest growth since 2022 in the third quarter of 2025, with revenue climbing 20.2% to $33 billion. The segment's operating income of $11.4 billion constituted the majority of the conglomerate's overall profitability. At its re:Invent conference in December, Amazon unveiled new products including the Graviton5 processor, Trainium3 servers for AI training, and expanded tools for AI agents. The company has outlined capital expenditures of $125 billion for 2025, with management indicating this figure is expected to rise further in 2026.

Investors await the next quarterly results, with Amazon scheduled to report Q4 2025 figures on February 5, 2026. Market experts are forecasting revenue of $211 billion and earnings per share of $1.94.