July 30 (Reuters) - Amazon.com ( AMZN ) topped market

expectations for quarterly cloud revenue growth on Thursday on

the back of surging enterprise AI spending, signaling the

company's hefty investments were bearing fruit.

Revenue at its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services,

jumped 37% to $42.2 billion in the second quarter ended June 30,

compared with analysts' consensus estimate of a 31.21% increase,

according to data compiled by LSEG.

The strong showing from the world's No. 1 cloud services

provider mirrors solid performances from smaller rivals

Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Alphabet's Google, both of

which comfortably beat Wall Street estimates for cloud revenue.

The upbeat results could help quell some concerns over Big

Tech's relentless AI investments - set to exceed $700 billion

this year - which have strained cash flows at the traditionally

cash-rich companies and sparked worries that they might be

overbuilding capacity.

Companies, however, have argued that the outlays are crucial

to help ease capacity constraints that have prevented them from

fully meeting AI-driven demand, pointing to their ballooning

contract backlogs.

Amazon Web Services has benefited from a growing roster of

partnerships this year, including massive cloud infrastructure

and chip supply deals with OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta,

Pinterest ( PINS ) and Snowflake.

The company said earlier this year that AWS' annual AI

revenue run rate has surpassed $15 billion and was growing in a

triple-digit percentage range, looking to reassure investors

that its investments were generating clear returns.

Analysts have said Amazon ( AMZN ) will be able to sustain that level

of growth as more data center capacity comes online over the

next several months.

In its e-commerce business, Amazon ( AMZN ) has been rolling out

faster delivery services globally and expanding to more rural

areas of the U.S. to draw more shoppers.

The company also held its annual Prime Day event in the

quarter, running from June 23 through June 26. The online

shopping event featuring steep discounts saw customers snap up

electronics, appliances and everyday essentials, with an Adobe

Analytics estimate pegging total spending at over $26.4 billion.