Amazon impressed investors with the highest growth in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division in nearly four years, but in an earnings call Wednesday, CEO Andy Jassy also offered a window into how far the company believes its robotics ambitions can still go—and how much further it intends to push them.
Even after deploying more than 1 million robots to help with stowing, picking, sorting and intra-facility transport, Amazon sees “meaningful opportunities” to further enhance productivity throughout its global fulfillment network, all while “continuing to raise the bar” in delivery, according to Jassy.
“We will keep optimizing inventory placement to shorten distance traveled, reduce touches per package and improve consolidation rates,” asserted Jassy. “Our latest generation technologies offer a step change in efficiency, which we’re deploying in both new and existing facilities. All our U.S. large-format fulfillment center launches in 2026 will have this latest generation technology. We are seeing early positive results with improved site safety, higher productivity and lower cost to serve.”
The tech titan is set to open multiple massive robotics fulfillment centers in 2026, including a 3.1-million-square-foot facility in Niagara, N.Y. and a 3.2-million-square-foot site in Wilmington, N.C. Another location, a 3.2-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Waterbury, Conn., is expected to operate by early next year.
Those automation-first warehouses have followed in the footsteps of Amazon’s first-ever robotics fulfillment center in Shreveport, La., which opened in late 2024. Based on leaked internal documents reported on by the New York Times last October, Amazon has a goal to automate 75 percent of its fulfillment operations, and plans to copy the Shreveport design in about 40 facilities by the end of 2027.
The locations are a linchpin in the company’s crusade to offer as many products as possible, all while cutting down delivery times and costs.
According to Amazon, the next-generation facilities reduce fulfillment processing times by up to 25 percent, with the logistics powerhouse also aiming to cut costs the same 25 percent during peak delivery seasons.
To inch closer to its goals, Amazon has flooded its warehouses with robotics technologies in recent years, including robotic arms like Sparrow, Robin and Cardinal, autonomous cart mover Proteus and inventory sortation system Sequoia to support employees in the fulfillment process.
Last year, the company unveiled its AI foundational model, DeepFleet, which coordinates the movement of all the robots within Amazon’s fulfillment network to optimize their navigation through the facilities and process customer orders faster.
Amazon’s curiosity in the robotics field isn’t limited to its own launches, with the company recently acquiring two robotics companies last month: humanoid robotics manufacturer Fauna Robotics and robotic doorstep delivery provider Rivr.
Jassy’s comments on robotics during the call were limited, but followed up an annual shareholder letter in which the CEO indicated Amazon was still in the early stages in implementing its robotics strategy.
“While we continue to work on productivity and inventory levels, robotics provides a step-level change for how we can deliver faster, reduce the cost of carrying more selection and automate movements that cause strains and injuries to our teammates,” said Jassy in the shareholder letter, published on April 9.
With an emphasis on a wider selection of products, it is perhaps not a coincidence that Jassy highlighted a 15 percent annual jump in overall units sold. This marks the highest such growth out of the company’s online and physical stores segment since the second quarter of 2021. Since the 2022 third quarter, this metric has jumped at a pace between 8 percent and 12 percent.
The growth in units outpaced Amazon’s fulfillment expenses, which grew 9 percent year over year, as well as outbound shipping costs, which were up 12 percent.
According to Jassy, more than 1 billion items have been delivered same-day or overnight so far in 2026. Amazon now offers one- and three-hour delivery options on over 90,000 items. One-hour delivery is available in hundreds of cities and towns, while three-hour delivery is scaled to 2,000-plus municipalities.
As Amazon’s fulfillment network evolves, the online marketplace continues to reel in record sales and profits.
For the first quarter, Amazon’s net sales increased 17 percent to $181.5 billion, compared with $155.7 billion in 2025’s first quarter. Excluding the $2.9 billion favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 15 percent.
Net income increased to $30.3 billion in the first quarter, or $2.78 per diluted share, compared with $17.1 billion, or $1.59 per diluted share, in the year-ago period.
Second-quarter net sales are expected to grow annually between 16 percent and 19 percent, which would generate $194 billion to $199 billion in revenue.
Operating income is expected to be between $20 billion and $24 billion, compared with $19.2 billion in the second quarter of 2025.
Amazon’s top profit driver, its AWS cloud computing division, saw revenue soar 28 percent to $37.6 billion. This was the highest acceleration for the unit in 15 quarters.
Amazon’s stock popped nearly 5 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday, but it gave back its gains by Thursday morning.
