Amazon’s AWS cloud-computing unit generated $22.1 billion in Q2, a 12 percent year-over-year gain that was a highlight in a strong quarter for the e-commerce giant. The company generated a total of $134.4 billion in revenue for the period ending in June, an 11 percent increase over the prior year. Advertising was also strong, jumping 22 percent to $10.68 billion. Cost-cutting and rebounding e-commerce helped propel the Seattle-based company to a quarterly profit of $6.75 billion (its strongest performance since Q4 2021), which contrasted sharply with a loss in the same period last year.

The profit performance was “close to twice the amount analysts were expecting,” which was $3.6 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. By the close of trading Thursday, “the stock had jumped by more than half this year, regaining ground after steep losses” of more than 50 percent of the company’s value through the end of last year.

Since then, Amazon adapted to changes in consumer demand and effected an expensive restructuring of its logistics network.

“As with other tech giants, Amazon’s business has been whipsawed in recent years as sales boomed during the pandemic, when much of work and life shifted online, then slowed afterward as more normal patterns of shopping and business spending resumed,” WSJ writes, noting that the company posted a Q2 2022 loss of $2 billion as it continued “adjusting to that newer reality.”

While Amazon Web Services enjoyed robust growth, it was at “its slowest pace since the company began separating out the unit’s performance in 2015,” WSJ reports, noting that “the unit’s operating profit fell from the year-earlier period to $5.4 billion, though it still accounted for the bulk of the company’s total.”

“We’re continuing to see strong demand for our advertising services as the team keeps innovating for brands, including the ramp up for ‘Thursday Night Football,’ with the ability for advertisers to tailor their spots by audience and create interactive experiences for consumers,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in an earnings announcement.

“Under its 11-year pact with the NFL, Amazon is reportedly paying about $1 billion annually for exclusive rights to 15 regular-season games and one preseason game per year,” Variety writes, adding that “in Q2, Amazon introduced what it claims are more advanced machine-learning models to help advertisers ‘reach previously unaddressable audiences with Amazon Ads’ as the digital ad business moves away from third-party browser cookies.”

Jassy also touted a “slew of generative AI releases that make it much easier and more cost effective for companies to train and run models” using Amazon’s Trainium and Inferentia chips, to “customize Large Language Models to build generative AI applications and agents” with Amazon’s Bedrock, and to “write code much more efficiently with CodeWhisperer.”