Amazon Stockpiles Billions in Nvidia AI Hardware Ahead of Power Grid Availability

Amazon is altering its artificial intelligence procurement process by accepting and stockpiling roughly $5 billion in Nvidia GB300 server racks before having data center power capacity ready. Under an Early Rack Receipt program, AWS plans to take in an additional $3 billion of hardware monthly, leaving equipment sitting idle in intermediary warehouses amid utility bottlenecks. The aggressive buildout forms part of an estimated $220 billion capital expenditure plan for 2026. This heavy spending reversed Amazon's trailing 12-month free cash flow to negative $7.6 billion in Q2 2026, marking its first negative free cash flow since 2023.