Amazon is buying billions in Nvidia AI racks it can't yet power, Business Insider reports

Amazon Web Services is taking delivery of Nvidia AI hardware earlier than before, even as power shortages leave some systems waiting in warehouses, Business Insider reported Tuesday, citing internal emails.

Early Rack Receipt. Under a new Early Rack Receipt process, AWS expected to receive roughly $5 billion in Nvidia GB300 server racks at US facilities before final deployment, according to August emails reviewed by Business Insider. One email projected about $3 billion more in GB300 racks each month "for the foreseeable future." Previously, AWS took ownership of a finished rack only on delivery to a data center, the report said.

Waiting on power. Some AWS sites had space for more racks but not enough available power to turn them on, people familiar with the effort told Business Insider, so finished equipment was staged at intermediary warehouses. At least one AWS team did not have "a clear forecasted path" for getting incoming racks into data centers at the time, according to one email.

Amazon's response. An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider the company routinely stages finished hardware near deployment sites so it can be installed once capacity is available, calling it "best business practice," and disputed that the company lacked a path for getting racks into data centers.