Matt Garman is one of the people quietly powering your digital routine — from your Starbucks order to your Netflix binges and late-night Pinterest scrolling.
As CEO of Amazon’s cloud division, he plays a key role in deciding how the computing power behind the internet is built and distributed — a responsibility that increasingly extends to shaping the future of artificial intelligence.
Few understand this space as deeply as Garman. In a conversation with CNN at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, he reflected on his early days at the company. As an intern, he helped outline the business strategy for Amazon Web Services. By 2006, when he joined full-time, he became AWS’s first product manager, guiding companies as they began shifting to the web.
Two decades after its launch in March 2006, AWS has become the invisible backbone of the digital economy. When it goes down, entire parts of modern life can come to a standstill.
For Amazon, that translates into massive revenue — $128.7 billion last year alone. But the rise of AI is reshaping the entire tech landscape. The company is ramping up its investment in AI infrastructure, with spending expected to reach $200 billion this year, while also cutting tens of thousands of jobs.
Garman argues these moves are necessary: streamlining operations helps Amazon move faster, and the built-up demand for AI is so strong that AWS could stay fully occupied for the next five to ten years — even if technological progress slows.
