‘Amazon Now’ and what it offers

‘Amazon Now’ is a new delivery option built directly into the main Amazon app and website. Customers in eligible neighbourhoods will see a “30 Minute Delivery” tab in the navigation bar, which opens a catalogue of items available for immediate dispatch. The pilot scheme covers thousands of products that customers often need urgently, such as milk, eggs, fresh produce, toothpaste, cosmetics, pet treats, nappies, paper products, over the counter medicines, electronics and seasonal goods. Everyday snacks like crisps and dips are included too, reflecting the impulse led nature of the service.

Ultra fast delivery

Amazon describes it as “an ultra fast delivery offering of the items customers want and need most urgently”, and says its aim is to get essentials to the doorstep in about 30 minutes or less. Customers can place an order, track the driver in real time and add a tip within the app, mirroring the experience already familiar from food delivery platforms.

Where the trial is running

The rollout is currently only limited to parts of Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered, and parts of Philadelphia in the US. Amazon has not confirmed how many neighbourhoods are covered or how long the test will run, and there is no stated timetable for expansion to other US cities. The company is referring to this phase as a trial, making it clear that the results will shape future decisions.

Faster in the United Arab Emirates in October

This US pilot follows an ultra fast launch in the United Arab Emirates in October, where Amazon introduced a 15 minute delivery service using micro facilities in local communities. Some customers in the UAE reportedly received their orders in as little as six minutes, showing the company’s willingness to push the limits of rapid fulfilment.

How the 30 minute model works

As you may expect, it seems that hitting a 30 minute delivery window requires a tightly controlled operation. Amazon says it is using “specialised smaller facilities designed for efficient order fulfilment”, located very close to where customers in both cities live and work. These sites stock a limited but high demand range of items and are built for fast picking, packing and dispatch.

Delivery is handled by partners and gig workers who use the Amazon Flex system. Reports from early usage suggest that drivers must leave within a few minutes of receiving an order notification to stay within the promised window. The entire model relies on short travel distances, real time routing and a fulfilment process that is optimised for speed rather than breadth of inventory.

No need for additional downloads

Since Amazon Now is part of the main shopping app, customers do not need to download anything new or switch services. Once they simply enter their postcode, the app confirms eligibility and displays the 30 minute catalogue. The experience is intentionally streamlined to minimise delay between ordering and dispatch.

How much does it cost?

Amazon Now is not included in Prime’s standard free delivery benefits. Prime members in the pilot areas can access 30 minute delivery from $3.99 per order. Non Prime customers pay $13.99.

A small basket fee of $1.99 applies to orders under $15, which aims to discourage very low value purchases that may be expensive to deliver at ultra fast speeds. This aligns with pricing strategies already used by food and grocery delivery platforms.

Optional premium service

Prime members continue to receive same day, overnight and next day delivery at no additional cost once order thresholds are met, so Amazon Now is essentially positioned as an optional premium service rather than a replacement for existing benefits.

Why now?

The service is designed to fit into the company’s wider logistics expansion programme. In mid 2025, Amazon announced that it planned to invest more than $4 billion to triple the scale of its delivery network by 2026. This included growing its network of same day facilities and reorganising the entire US fulfilment system around regional hubs. The changes have already reduced average delivery times and increased the proportion of orders arriving the same or next day.

Ultra fast delivery, therefore, marks the next key stage of this strategy. Amazon’s key competitors such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Instacart already fulfil convenience and grocery orders within an hour, often by picking from local supermarkets. Amazon’s model differs because the inventory is held in its own small facilities, giving the company much tighter control over stock levels, availability and timing.

The new pilot also builds on Amazon’s earlier experiments. The company launched Prime Now in 2014, offering two hour deliveries, then closed the standalone app in 2021 when it folded the service into the main shopping app. Amazon Now is, in effect, a new iteration of that idea, but designed for a world where rapid delivery is becoming mainstream.

Impact on competitors and the market

The initial announcement had an immediate market impact. Shares in Instacart fell by more than 2% and DoorDash also dipped after the news broke, reflecting investor concern that Amazon may apply the same scale and pricing power to rapid grocery delivery that it previously applied to next day fulfilment. Analysts noted that Amazon’s growing interest in this category could put pressure on existing quick commerce players whose business models often rely on high fees and narrow margins.

Walmart is also part of the competitive picture. The retailer already offers rapid grocery delivery to most US households and benefits from its extensive store network. Industry studies suggest that a large proportion of customers are prepared to pay for fast grocery deliveries, highlighting the strength of demand in this category. Amazon’s pilot will therefore be watched closely by rivals in grocery, convenience and last mile logistics.

Customers and businesses

For customers in Seattle and Philadelphia, the immediate benefit is convenience. Items that once required a trip to a local shop can now be delivered in half an hour, which is faster than typical takeaway delivery times in many parts of the US. Ultra fast delivery may appeal especially to busy households, parents, pet owners and customers dealing with last minute needs such as forgotten ingredients or essentials.

For businesses, the implications extend beyond retail. FMCG manufacturers and brand owners may now see opportunities to position products within the ultra fast catalogue or to experiment with smaller pack sizes designed specifically for rapid missions. Marketing strategies could evolve as Amazon gains new data on urgent purchases and browsing patterns inside the 30 minute section of the app.

Local supermarkets and smaller delivery start ups may face stronger competition if Amazon expands the model. Since Amazon controls both the inventory and the logistics, it may be able to keep prices lower than rivals that rely on third party shops and couriers.

Challenges and criticisms

Ultra fast delivery is expensive to run, and analysts have warned that these models can suffer from high operating costs. Faster delivery windows require more staff, more micro facilities, more inventory and more vehicles on the road. This can make profitability difficult, especially when customers expect low delivery fees.

There are labour concerns too. Gig workers may face higher pressure when delivery windows are tight, and campaigners are likely to watch how Amazon balances speed with driver wellbeing and safety. Amazon emphasises that its specialised facilities improve safety for staff picking and packing orders, but questions remain around the wider impact on drivers and delivery partners.

Sustainability is another factor to consider. Amazon argues that micro facilities positioned close to customers reduce the distance and emissions associated with deliveries. However, critics point out that ultra fast services may increase the total number of delivery trips and create more packaging waste, particularly for small orders.

There is also a wider cultural debate about the need for extreme immediacy in everyday shopping. Some commentators have questioned whether orders in minutes encourage unnecessary consumption or reinforce habits built around convenience over planning.

What does this mean for your business?

The Amazon Now pilot highlights how far the rapid delivery market has evolved. Amazon is investing heavily in this area: the company is using its scale and financial superiority, which is important because it is expensive to run, to test whether ultra fast fulfilment can become a core part of mainstream retail rather than a niche convenience service. The approach brings clear advantages for customers who value immediacy and for Amazon, which gains more control over high demand categories and more insight into urgent purchase behaviour. It also places new pressure on competitors that rely on partnerships with local supermarkets rather than owning their fulfilment process from end to end.

There are still unanswered questions about sustainability, labour practices and long term profitability. Ultra fast delivery needs dense networks of sites, reliable staffing and strong demand at a price customers are willing to pay. These pressures are not limited to the US and will be watched closely by UK retailers, logistics firms and brands that already operate in a market where fast delivery has become an expectation. UK businesses may find themselves adapting product ranges, marketing tactics or supply chain plans if similar models expand internationally, especially in urban areas where rapid fulfilment could reshape local competition and customer expectations.

The wider impact on city infrastructure, emissions and working conditions will also remain part of the discussion. Everyone from delivery partners to sustainability groups is likely to want assurances that speed does not undermine safety or environmental commitments. The success of the model, therefore, will ultimately depend on whether Amazon can balance convenience with operational, ethical and financial realities while proving that ultra fast fulfilment can scale without intensifying existing challenges.

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A bold expansion into the Gulf

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is reportedly helping to develop one of the largest AI data centre campuses on the planet, a 10 square mile megaproject in Abu Dhabi that could eventually outsize the entire nation of Monaco.

The plans, first reported by Bloomberg, describe a 5 gigawatt facility that would draw as much power as five nuclear reactors and become a key node in OpenAI’s growing Stargate infrastructure programme. The UAE site is being built in partnership with G42, a powerful Abu Dhabi based tech group chaired by the country’s national security advisor, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sources familiar with the project say OpenAI would act as one of the primary anchor tenants, though final details are still being worked out. If confirmed, it would mark OpenAI’s largest international infrastructure commitment to date, and one that dramatically raises the stakes in the global race for AI compute power.

Why Abu Dhabi?

For OpenAI, the UAE offers more than just open desert and deep pockets. The region has become a key strategic ally in the US led effort to expand AI capacity without ceding ground to China.

Abu Dhabi, in particular, has poured billions into tech development through sovereign funds and national champions like G42 and MGX. In return, it has sought deeper technological integration with major US firms, a goal reinforced during President Trump’s recent Middle East visit, where AI cooperation featured prominently on the agenda.

In fact, this new data centre forms part of a wider bilateral framework signed in May between the US and UAE to accelerate AI deployment across the Gulf. The accord could include the sale of over a million high end Nvidia chips to the UAE, a move intended to counter Beijing’s influence in the region.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has long praised the UAE’s ambition. For example, speaking in Abu Dhabi last year, he said the country “has been talking about AI since before it was cool.” His company’s relationship with G42 dates back to 2023, when the two announced a regional partnership to promote AI adoption across the Middle East.

The global AI infrastructure play

The Abu Dhabi build looks like being the most ambitious element yet in OpenAI’s “Stargate” initiative: a joint venture with SoftBank and Oracle aimed at rolling out hyperscale AI infrastructure around the globe. The programme is expected to channel up to $500 billion into global projects over the next four years.

OpenAI’s first Stargate campus is already under construction in Abilene, Texas. That site is expected to reach 1.2 gigawatts, making the planned Abu Dhabi facility more than four times larger. For context, Microsoft’s largest data centres currently consume less than 1 gigawatt.

It’s been reported that each site will serve as a supercharged AI hub, equipped with high density computing clusters and the latest generation of Nvidia and AMD chips. These are designed to handle the massive workloads required for training and deploying next gen language models, vision systems and multimodal tools.

According to OpenAI, demand for compute is growing faster than chipmakers can supply. Speaking earlier this year, Altman warned that “AI progress will soon be bottlenecked not by algorithmic innovation, but by energy and silicon.” It seems, therefore, that Stargate is OpenAI’s attempt to remove that bottleneck.

Power, partnerships and politics

The scale of the Abu Dhabi site is breathtaking. At full capacity, it would:

• Span over 10 square miles, which is larger than many cities and territories, including Monaco at 0.78 square miles.
• Consume 5 gigawatts of power, which is equal to around five large nuclear plants or roughly the output of the UK’s Hinkley Point C, when complete.
• House an ecosystem of tenants such as OpenAI, Oracle and others, although names have not yet been disclosed.

Oracle, which has been expanding its cloud footprint aggressively to support AI workloads, is reportedly involved in developing the first phase of the campus. Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest backer, is also entangled via its recent $1.5 billion investment in G42. Microsoft President Brad Smith has since joined the G42 board.

Complex politics

The politics behind these partnerships is complex. G42’s historical ties to Chinese firms, including Huawei and the Beijing Genomics Institute, have caused alarm in Washington. In 2023, US lawmakers warned that such links could enable Chinese access to sensitive American tech via the back door.

Under pressure, G42 has since claimed to have exited all China related investments and operations. CEO Peng Xiao said to Bloomberg in January: “All of our China investments that were previously made are already divested. Because of that, we have no need anymore for any physical China presence.”

That change appears to have helped pave the way for closer US-UAE collaboration. That said, it seems that not everyone in Washington is convinced the threat has vanished. For example, some Trump administration officials are said to be uneasy about the symbolic and strategic risks of moving advanced AI infrastructure offshore, particularly to a region still watched closely by Chinese and Russian intelligence services.

Changing the AI landscape?

If built as planned, the Abu Dhabi super campus would not only change the geography of AI infrastructure, but could reshape how companies access and deploy AI globally.

For OpenAI’s users, especially enterprise clients, the move signals two big trends:

• More global redundancy and resilience. Spreading infrastructure across continents could make OpenAI services more stable, scalable, and compliant with local regulations, including data residency requirements.
• Faster innovation cycles. With massive compute on tap, OpenAI can continue training ever larger models, rolling out more powerful tools for business, research, and defence applications.

At the same time, the project highlights the deepening alliances between Big Tech and geopolitical power blocs. As AI becomes a strategic asset akin to oil or semiconductors, access to compute may increasingly shape who leads and who lags in the next digital revolution.

A new benchmark

For OpenAI’s rivals like Google DeepMind, Anthropic and Meta, the Abu Dhabi development looks like setting a new benchmark. Few others have announced anything on this scale. It also raises questions about whether public cloud infrastructure alone will be sufficient to keep pace, or if more firms will start investing in their own AI megastructures.

Environmental and other concerns

Despite the hype around the scale and the promise of the project, it also raises tough questions about energy use, environmental impact, export controls and the ethics of building frontier AI infrastructure in politically sensitive regions. These tensions are unlikely to go away anytime soon.

What does this mean for your business?

OpenAI’s reported potential leap into Abu Dhabi is more than just a headline grabbing land grab or another tech tie up. In fact, it appears to mark a pretty decisive moment in the evolution of AI infrastructure: where geography, politics, and compute capacity intersect on a global stage. If the deal goes ahead as anticipated, the Middle East may soon host the world’s largest AI campus, symbolising not just technical ambition but also a fundamental shift in where the power behind AI is physically rooted.

For OpenAI, the project signals a pragmatic move to secure the raw energy and silicon resources needed to train future generations of frontier models. The scale of the proposed facility underlines just how central compute has become to AI’s progress, and just how willing firms are to chase that capacity beyond their traditional home markets. Yet that ambition comes at a cost. The growing proximity between powerful AI companies and state linked partners in geopolitically complex regions raises real questions about governance, transparency, and the safe stewardship of cutting edge technologies.

UK businesses watching this from afar may be in two minds about its benefits. On the one hand, expanded infrastructure could eventually translate into more stable, powerful AI services, and potentially lower costs as scale economies kick in. For sectors already adopting generative AI at pace, such as finance, marketing, logistics and law, that’s a tantalising prospect. However, it also reinforces the extent to which global supply chains, regulatory alignments and geopolitical tensions now play an invisible but important role in the tools UK firms depend on.

Likewise, for policymakers, the Abu Dhabi campus could serve as a reminder of how fast the AI ecosystem is becoming a transnational infrastructure issue, one that affects everything from energy use and international trade to national security and data protection. The decisions being made in Abu Dhabi, San Francisco or Washington are no longer abstract for UK stakeholders, but they shape the very foundations of how AI is accessed and governed globally.

In the end, the success or failure of this move may depend as much on diplomacy and ethics as on architecture and engineering. Although the vision is immense, so too are the risks. Whether this data centre becomes a beacon of innovation or a lightning rod for criticism will depend on how carefully all those involved, OpenAI, G42, Oracle and the governments behind them, navigate the road ahead.

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