The pressure is on Amazon.com to deliver on lofty expectations for cloud computing in its fourth-quarter results on Thursday, after Microsoft and Google's lackluster reports jolted investor faith in Big Tech's billion-dollar investments in AI.

Amazon.com Inc. shares have largely climbed on the back of two trends: strength in its cloud business and a focus on costs. Now both could be in question.

The results echoed the slowdown at Microsoft and Alphabet-owned Google, and highlighted how U.S. cloud-computing giants were struggling to scale AI as infrastructure bottlenecks cap growth, forcing them to invest billions in data centers with little short-term payoff.

Amazon.com topped Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue on Thursday, as strong sales over the holiday shopping season boosted its retail business, helping offset weakness in the cloud computing