Amazon has set up supplier financing arrangements that let it borrow up to $80 billion against the value of the hardware it buys, a move to preserve financial flexibility as it spends heavily on AI infrastructure. Amazon disclosed the secured loan facility in its quarterly filing after reporting third-quarter earnings on Thursday.
Amazon can draw on the facility at its discretion from the beginning of 2027 through the third quarter of 2028. Lenders receive collateral rights over some of the assets purchased under the arrangement, though the filing does not specify which assets. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment, and the lenders, interest rates and repayment terms were not disclosed.
The structure is a departure for Amazon. The company has mainly paid for data centers and chips with cash from its cloud and retail businesses, along with its largest-ever corporate bond sales. It had largely stayed away from the joint financing deals and chip-leasing arrangements that some rivals have used, many of which involve Nvidia chips.
Key facts
- 01Amazon can borrow up to $80 billion against the value of hardware it buys under new supplier financing arrangements.
- 02The secured facility can be drawn from the start of 2027 through the third quarter of 2028.
- 03Total spending commitments reached $883 billion at the end of September, up 36% in three months.
- 04Amazon reported free cash outflow of $42.4 billion for the year ended September 30.
The filing also shows how fast Amazon's obligations are growing. Total spending commitments, covering debt and interest, leases not yet commenced, property and equipment obligations and other items, reached $883 billion at the end of September. That is up 36% from three months earlier and more than double the level at the same point in 2025.
Amazon reported free cash outflow of $42.4 billion for the 12 months ended September 30, and third-quarter capital spending rose by more than expected. AWS CEO Matt Garman addressed the funding approach in a television interview on Friday.
“we're looking for ways to also responsibly fund that so that we can go as big as possible for our customers.”— Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services
Garman said Amazon was working with partners to "figure out how we can balance some of those cash flows as we're really ramping up aggressively."
Amazon shares were down about 2% at midday in New York on Friday.
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