Amazon Announces $4B Investment To Boost Rural Logistics Infrastructure

Amazon.com (AMZN) is investing over $4 billion to expand its rural delivery network in the United States, the e-commerce giant announced on Wednesday.

The investment, set to be deployed by the end of next year, will create 200 additional stations and 100,000 jobs. By the end of it, Amazon would have tripled the size of its rural delivery network and be able to ship faster to several small towns and cities, the company said.

The move comes as President Donald Trump's tariff policy is largely expected to raise consumer prices and weaken spending--which will be problematic, especially for retail-focused businesses.

Over the years, Amazon has expanded its Prime delivery program, attracting consumers and establishing itself as their go-to online shopping destination.

The latest effort would likely allow Amazon to expand Prime coverage to more areas. "Once the expansion is complete, our network will be able to deliver over a billion more packages each year to customers living in over 13,000 zip codes spanning 1,200,000 square miles," Amazon said in a blog post.

Shares of Amazon, which is set to report quarterly earnings on Thursday, were up 3.5% in extended trading following strong results from Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Going into earnings, Stocktwits users are optimistic about the company.

The announcement comes a day after the company was criticized by the White House over reports that it planned to show tariff charges on certain items on its site.

The company later clarified that it had only explored the idea for select items on its low-cost store, Amazon Haul, and would not implement the plan.

As of their last closing price, Amazon shares are down 19% year to date.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.