Dive Brief:

• Amazon announced that revenue from Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud operations, nearly doubled in the second quarter.

• Operating margins for Amazon’s AWS unit jumped from 7.7% to 21.4%.

• The company's market capitalization rocketed to more than $270 billion following the news.

Dive Insight:

Signaling the dramatic impact of technology, cloud and e-commerce on the economy, Amazon is now valued at more than Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer.

"Product sales are Amazon's bread, but AWS is its butter," said Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Securities analyst.

Amazon now controls 29% of the cloud infrastructure provider market, having grown 49% year-over-year. Moving forward, analysts expect AWS's strong growth will continue. With IDC reporting that cloud IT infrastructure spending is set to reach $33.4 billion this year, AWS seemingly has nowhere to go but up.