As Apple and Amazon compete for a greater share of consumer dollars and attention, they also have a particularly intimate business relationship: Apple is spending more than $30 million a month on Amazon's cloud, according to people familiar with the arrangement.

CNBC reports today that "Apple's cloud expenditure reflects the company's determination to deliver online services like iCloud quickly and reliably, even if it must depend on a rival to do so.

Apple has said in the past that it uses AWS for iCloud storage, but has not disclosed whether any other Apple services use AWS or other third-party clouds. In a February job posting, Apple said it was looking for someone who could 'lead and architect our growing AWS footprint.'

The expenditures are likely to continue for the foreseeable future. In the past few months Apple signed an agreement that includes a commitment to spend at least $1.5 billion on AWS over the course of five years, a source said. In the most recent fiscal year Apple had $30.94 billion in operating expenses.

For the sake of comparison, Lyft has agreed to pay AWS at least $300 million for cloud services through the end of 2021, while Pinterest said it has committed to spending at least $750 million on AWS in a six-year period that ends in mid-2023." Source: CNBC

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