Amazon shares surged as much as 9 percent in after-hours trading following the company's second-quarter earnings report. Sales at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud division, rose 37 percent year-on-year to $42.2 billion, exceeding analyst expectations.

Overall operating income for Amazon, which includes advertising, e-commerce, and media, climbed 43 percent to $27.5 billion. CEO Andy Jassy highlighted AWS's booming performance, emphasizing the company's aggressive push into artificial intelligence and its efforts to maintain market leadership.

Amazon is investing heavily in AI and data center infrastructure, with capital expenditure expected to reach $200 billion this year. To finance these investments, the company has undertaken cost-reduction measures, including layoffs, and recently sought to raise $50 billion through corporate bond issuances.