Apple Is Spending Over $30M A Month On AWS Cloud, Report Says

If Apple maintains that level of AWS spending through 2019, its annual AWS expenditures would top $360 million after spending about $350 million last year, CNBC reports.

Tech giant Apple is spending more than $30 million per month for cloud computing from Amazon Web Services, putting it on track to spend $360 million this year, CNBC said today.

The monthly outlay, which is part of a multiyear agreement, makes Apple one of AWS’ largest customers, according to the CNBC report, which cited unspecified people familiar with the arrangement.

“At the end of March, Apple’s spending was on track to average more than $30 million per month in the first quarter of 2019,” CNBC’s report said. “That would be more than 10 percent higher than the same period last year, according to two people familiar with the spending.”

If Apple maintains that level of AWS spending through 2019, its annual AWS spending would top $360 million after spending about $350 million last year, CNBC reported, citing an unnamed source.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple recently signed a deal to spend at least $1.5 billion with AWS in a five-year period, according to CNBC, which equates to $300 million per year.

Apple and AWS couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Apple previously revealed that it uses AWS for its iCloud storage, but it hasn’t divulged whether it uses AWS for other Apple services, CNBC said. CNBC cited a February job posting by Apple seeking a senior DevOps engineer to “lead and architect our growing AWS footprint.” Apple also uses Google Cloud, and has used Microsoft Azure for cloud computing services in the past, in addition to smaller third-party providers, according to CNBC.

In a February filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Amazon.com reported $19.3 billion in customer commitments – primarily related to AWS -- for contracts with original terms that exceed one year as of Dec. 31, 2018.

Apple, meanwhile, also is investing in building its own cloud infrastructure. In December, it announced plans to spend $10 billion on U.S. data centers in a five-year period, including $4.5 billion this year and next. It’s expanding its data centers in Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina and building a new one in Iowa.

Apple spends more on AWS’ cloud services than ride-hailing company Lyft and image-sharing social media company Pinterest.

Lyft has a commitment to spend at least $300 million on AWS services from 2019 through 2021, with a minimum of $80 million in each of the three years, according to its S-1 registration statement filed last with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before its initial public offering.

And Pinterest, which also uses only AWS, has a six-year deal with AWS that requires it to spend at least $750 million on cloud infrastructure services through July 2023, according to its S-1 regulatory filing.