If you’re at all familiar with cloud computing, you know Amazon Web Services is a giant – but just how big is AWS?

There are a number of measures of the size of a cloud business like Amazon’s – here are answers to just a few of those questions.

Key Takeaways

  • AWS Employee Count: Estimations suggest AWS might have up to 62,000 employees, a figure derived from operating expenses and LinkedIn listings, although precise numbers are elusive.
  • Expansive Infrastructure: AWS boasts 66 availability zones across 21 geographic regions, with each zone hosting one to several data centers.
  • Vast Product Range: With 170 unique services and counting, AWS offers a wide array of products, from core computing to advanced machine learning tools.
  • AWS re:Invent Size: AWS’s annual re:Invent conference is a significant event in the cloud computing world, expecting 62,000 attendees in 2019, underscoring its industry influence.
  • Dominant Market Share: AWS holds a 47% share of the public cloud market, outpacing its nearest competitor, Azure, and evidencing its market dominance.
  • Robust Revenue: AWS reported $7.7 billion in sales for Q1 2019, with a yearly revenue of $25.7 billion in 2018, marking substantial growth.
  • Significant Contribution to Amazon: AWS accounts for about 50% of Amazon’s overall operating income, with a remarkable operating margin of 29%, highlighting its crucial role in Amazon’s profitability.

How Big is AWS’s Staff? The AWS Employee Count

While numbers for employees of Amazon as a whole are reported in the company’s quarterly earnings reports (630,600 as of Q1 2019), the number of those under AWS is less clear.

AWS has just over 40,000 employees listed on LinkedIn, but of course, that’s not the most accurate measure.

By eyeballing the operating expenses reported for the AWS segment compared to Amazon’s business as a whole, you could estimate up to 62,000, but it’s likely lower than that.

As of this writing, AWS has 12,280 full-time job openings listed on their website, while Amazon as a whole has 32,454 openings.

We’ll be interested to see how this is affected by HQ2 joining ParkMyCloud’s neighborhood in Northern Virginia later this year.

How Big is AWS’s Infrastructure?

AWS has 66 availability zones within 21 geographic regions around the world. Each availability zone consists of one to dozens of individual data centers.

To visualize these data centers, check out AWS’s exploration of them here.

How Big is AWS’s List of Products?

When we last checked in April, there were 170 unique services on AWS’s offerings page, and there may be even more now. These include main compute products like EC2 and newer options like AWS Deepracer for machine learning. Expect to see this number rise after AWS re:Invent in early December, as the cloud provider usually holds back announcements for its annual user conference.

Speaking of…

How Big is AWS re:Invent?

In 2018, AWS re:Invent pulled 52,000 attendees, and AWS estimates a crowd of 62,000 for 2019, each year taking up a large portion of the Las Vegas Strip.

In comparison, Microsoft Ignite expects 25,000 attendees this year, Google Cloud Next estimated 30,000 attendees, and VMworld estimates 21,000 attendees.

Then again, Salesforce’s Dreamforce 2018 drew 170,000 attendees, and Consumer Electronics Show (CES) reports 175,212 attendees for 2019. So while AWS re:Invent may be large for a cloud-specific conference, it’s not quite a giant as far as tech shows go.

How Big is AWS’s Market Share?

When looking at public cloud, it’s clear AWS still holds the largest portion of the market. A recent report put AWS at 47% of the market, with the next-closest competitor as Azure at 22%. More about AWS vs. Azure vs. Google cloud market share.

How Big is AWS’s Revenue?

For Q1 2019, AWS reported sales of $7.7 billion, showing consistent growth and the largest of any of the cloud service providers. For the full year of 2018, AWS reported $25.7 billion in revenue – that’s more than McDonald’s. Additionally, AWS has $16 billion or more in backlog revenue from contracts for future services. It is a growing proportion of Amazon’s business. In fact:

How Big is AWS as a Portion of Amazon?

In first quarter reports, AWS contributed about 50% of Amazon’s overall operating income, with an operating margin of 29%. Overall, AWS is growing as a contributor to Amazon’s income and growth. More here.

So how big is AWS? It’s up to you how you want to measure, but suffice it to say: big.