Amazon LEO: Adding to the Re-Acceleration of AWS & Prime Revenue Growth
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For years, it was known by a code name inspired by the icy outer reaches of our solar system: Project Kuiper. But in November 2025, Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy signaled that the “project” phase was officially over. Rebranded as Amazon Leo, the tech giant’s massive new satellite internet constellation has transitioned from an R&D experiment into a new pillar of Amazon infrastructure that will receive increasing focus from 2026 onwards.
I decided to write on this because as I researched deeper into the rationale for Amazon to commit a reported US$10-20bn on LEO over the next few years, it became clear that the satellite internet business is another growth driver for Amazon that will help reaccelerate AWS and extend the growth horizon of the overall business as it is strategic to both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Prime ecosystem.
What is Amazon Leo?
Amazon Leo is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation designed to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe. Unlike traditional geostationary satellites that “hover” 36,000 kilometers above the Earth creating massive signal delay (latency), Leo satellites orbit at altitudes between 590 and 630 kilometers. This proximity allows for fiber-like speeds, even in the middle of the ocean or the most remote mountain ranges.
The blueprint is ambitious:
The Constellation: A planned network of 3,236 satellites.
The Timing: 50% of satellites to be deployed by July 30, 2026.
The Hardware: Three tiers of customer terminals: the ultra-compact Leo Nano (100 Mbps), the residential Leo Pro (400 Mbps), and the enterprise-grade Leo Ultra (1 Gbps).
The Secret Sauce: Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISL). These lasers allow satellites to talk to one another in the vacuum of space, creating a mesh network that can transmit data across continents without needing to touch a ground station until it reaches its destination.
Milestones: The Path to the November Pivot
The journey from a “handful of engineers” to an orbital powerhouse has been defined by rapid execution. After securing FCC approval in July 2020, the project hit its stride in late 2023 with the successful launch of its “Protoflight” mission. The prototypes, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, validated the core technology, achieving a 100% success rate in data transmission and satellite control.
In April 2025, the “Production Era” began. Amazon deployed its first full batch of 27 production satellites. By the end of 2025, the company had successfully launched over 180 satellites across six successful missions.
The most significant milestone, however, wasn’t a launch, it was the November 2025 Rebrand. By changing the name to Amazon Leo, the company moved the initiative under the “Amazon” master brand, signaling to investors and competitors alike that the service was ready for its commercial debut in 2026.
Commercialization via Enterprise First
In November 2025, coinciding with the rebrand, Amazon launched its Enterprise Preview phase. While residential service is slated for later in 2026, the company is prioritizing high-value partnerships to prove the network’s reliability.
Early adopters are already integrated:
Aviation: JetBlue signed on as the first airline to offer Leo-powered Wi-Fi, aiming to provide “office-grade” internet at 35,000 feet.
Telecom: NBN Co in Australia is utilizing Amazon Leo to replace its aging Sky Muster geostationary satellites, bringing high-speed connectivity to over 300,000 remote homes and businesses.
Industrial: Partnerships with firms like L3Harris and agricultural giant Connected Farms show that Leo is being positioned as an industrial tool, not just a consumer toy.
The Significance to AWS and Prime: A Two-Pronged Moat
To understand why Amazon is spending over $10-$20 billion on this constellation and associated infrastructure, you have to look at the two engines that power the company: Cloud and Retail.
1. AWS Everywhere
The most overlooked feature of Amazon Leo is its integration with AWS. Through a feature called Direct-to-AWS (D2A), enterprise customers can bypass the public internet entirely. A mine site in remote north western Australia, a research station in Antarctica or a cargo ship in the Pacific can connect directly to an AWS data center via the satellite mesh.
“By providing a private, secure lane to the cloud from anywhere on Earth, Amazon Leo effectively turns the entire planet into a low-latency AWS zone.”
This solves the “last mile” problem for edge computing, allowing companies to run complex AI models in locations that were previously offline. It becomes an additional growth driver for AWS and a differentiator to other hyperscalers as enterprises can deploy AI across operations that were previously too difficult.
2. Growing Prime into new pools of consumers globally
For the retail side of Amazon, Amazon Leo is a new customer acquisition machine when it launches residential services in late 2026. By bundling satellite internet with Prime memberships in new or under-penetrated and emerging markets, Amazon can bring the “next hundred million” customers into its ecosystem over time. If a household relies on Amazon for their internet, they are significantly more likely to use Amazon for their commerce and streaming needs. Think of the potential of LEO to expand Amazon across India, Asian and African markets for example.
In this respect, the LEO opportunity is somewhat reminiscent of the original launch of Prime for Amazon. Back then Prime was seen as a curiosity but became the largest customer acquisition driver for the company in its history. LEO potentially takes that same role with a focus outside the US.
Amazon e-commerce customers are predominately in the US today. Its reported that 310 million consumers globally use Amazon for e-commerce monthly with 80% of those in the US and 20% in international markets. LEO offers a new means of attracting customers to the Amazon ecosystem in the large markets where it is under-penetrated today.
Starlink offers an example of how this could work for Amazon. Starlink has grown from 4m to over 9m customers in only the last 18 months but lacks an offering other than connectivity. LEO is expected to be priced below Starlink and with the benefit of Amazon’s master brand, marketing reach and Prime bundling consequently has the potential to grow at least as fast as Starlink in terms of gross customer numbers. 20% of Starlink’s customers are in the US while 80% are in the markets of Brazil, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Nigeria and Indonesia - ie Starlink shows how LEO flips the script for Amazon growth towards international markets providing a new horizon of growth for the company.
Financial Metrics and Materiality
Is Amazon Leo a “needle-mover” for a company that does over $700 billion in annual revenue? Interestingly, the consensus on Wall Street has shifted to a “yes” on this issue.
Revenue and Earnings Potential
Connectivity
Analysts at Bank of America and Evercore ISI estimate that Amazon Leo, as a stand-alone internet connectivity service, could generate between $7 billion and $10 billion in annual recurring revenue by 2030. I note however that this is still below Starlink’s revenue today of ~US$12bn (which will likely be US$25bn-$30bn by 2030 based on current growth) and therefore could prove conservative. Based on an average monthly cost of $80-$100, the upper end of this estimate assumes ~8-10m customers - or 24-36 months of Starlink’s current customer growth rate.
Prime Revenues
Layering in e-commerce revenues from additional Prime memberships likely doubles this revenue target, albeit at lower margins assuming similar annual e-commerce spend to non US averages.
AWS Revenue Acceleration
The real value lies in the “multiplier effect” on AWS. It is estimated that for every $1 spent on Leo connectivity, enterprise customers spend an additional $3 to $5 on AWS services (compute, storage, and AI). This could add another 200 basis points to AWS’s annual growth rate, helping the cloud division maintain its 20%+ growth trajectory or even reaccelerate in the next two years, even as the business matures.
Earnings Potential
Given the total direct and indirect revenue opportunity for Amazon of LEO is heavily tilted toward connectivity and AWS, it is margin accretive to the company (higher than average overall margins). While estimates are difficult at such an early stage, it is likely that LEO, via all its influence channels can add up to 2 percentage points to the average annual operating earnings growth rate over the next five years (tilted towards 2027-2030). For a company the size of Amazon, that is material to maintaining the current multiple and allowing investors to capture the earnings growth rate in share price appreciation.
The Analyst Pivot: From “Cost Center” to “Catalyst”
Until mid-2025, many analysts viewed Project Kuiper as a drag on free cash flow. However, the tone appears to have shifted in early 2026.
Bernstein (Nikhil Devnani): Reiterated an “Outperform” rating with a $300 target, calling 2026 the “most attractive bull case” for Amazon since the pandemic, specifically citing the “capitalization of Project Leo” as a key driver.
Evercore ISI (Mark Mahaney): Named Amazon his “top pick for 2026,” shifting the focus from retail efficiency to infrastructure expansion.
The July 30, 2026, FCC deadline, which requires Amazon to have half its constellation (1,618 satellites) in orbit is now viewed by the Street not as a large risk, but as a “forced execution” milestone that will prove Amazon’s ability to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. Amazon may be required to apply for an extension to this deadline but material launch progress by then should (you’d imagine given the committed capital) reasonably be seen to support that extension case.
Conclusion
LEO appears to be Amazon’s next big bet outside AI. They have nurtured this project behind the scenes for at least 5 years to get to this point. Just like the launch and growth of Prime and Amazon’s ethos of investing big for large long-term returns, LEO, with its strategic appeal across both the e-commerce and AWS ecosystem businesses adds an important additional angle and horizon to the Amazon growth story. For the reasons discussed, its worth focusing more on statements made by the company regarding LEO from here on out.
Author’s note: The author holds a current position in Amazon stock.
Honestly, I never thought about Amazon Leo in such a strategic way for their overall growth, you've realy connected the dots here. I'm super curious about the specifics of how this LEO constellation will extend the growth horizon for *both* AWS and Prime – like, what kind of new services or integrations do you see coming that truly leverage the low latency and global reach?
Solid breakdown of how LEO flips the script on satellite connectivity economics. The latency gap versus geostationary is obvious but bundling Direct-to-AWS into the value prop is smart, basically locking in enterprise customers who need edge compute in remote areas. I'm curious how fast they can deploy those remaining 1600 satellites before the FCC deadlin, launch cadence will be a huge tell for investor confidence.