Amazon to license Slack for all employees, while Slack will use underlying tech from AWS's Chime video-calling service to improve its video and audio calls
- Slack will draw on the underlying technology for Amazon Web Services' Chime video-calling service to deliver better video calls for millions of Slack users.
The swap makes each company the other's supplier: Amazon standardizes internally on Slack, giving the messaging platform a marquee enterprise logo at the exact moment it is fighting Microsoft Teams for corporate accounts, while Slack inherits Chime's audio and video engine for millions of users.
First-order effects
Amazon employees move onto Slack company-wide, putting the platform inside one of the largest corporate workforces as it battles Microsoft Teams for enterprise seats.
Slack immediately upgrades video and audio quality across its user base without building the stack itself, deepening its dependence on AWS infrastructure for a core feature.
Second-order effects
AWS converts a struggling first-party product (Chime) into licensed componentry, extracting value from Slack's reach rather than competing with it head-on for meetings.
Microsoft faces a two-front problem: Slack gains both Amazon as a customer and Amazon-built calling tech as ammunition, right after Slack had already integrated Teams' own calling features to reduce switching friction.
Third-order effects
The pattern points toward conferencing collapsing from standalone products into licensed components inside messaging platforms — borne out later when Amazon announced ending Chime support in February 2026 and adopting Zoom internally, leaving the technology to live on through deals like this one rather than as a product.
If cross-licensing becomes the norm, enterprise software competition shifts from who owns each feature to who controls the integration surface where rivals' capabilities meet.
The trend: Workplace communication vendors are swapping licenses instead of building every capability in-house, turning former competitors like Chime into components of platforms like Slack.
Slack moving entirely inside the Amazon universe should worry anyone who uses Slack for any kind of communication they wouldn't want Amazon, or the cops, to know about https://www.theverge.com/...
I've only been on Chime calls a couple of times but they seemed ...fine? Even if they're just fine, “fine” is a 10X improvement over Slack's current conferencing. https://www.theverge.com/...
Big move. @SlackHQ & @awscloud deepen partnership w several moves incl. Slack embedding the Amazon Chime SDK for native video meetings. Big propeller for Slack & Chime in the hot video collab space. AWS is quietly building a solid workplace app strategy👍 https://press.aboutamazon…
This is a news I was waiting for ❤️ - Slack will use the Amazon Chime SDK to power audio/video calls, and AWS employees will use Slack to collaborate more efficiently 🙌. https://www.businesswire.com/ ...
CNBC: Amazon licenses Slack for workers as Slack adopts AWS video-call tech “The alliance helps both companies battle Microsoft, whose Teams communications service has grown in popularity alongside Slack during the coronavirus pandemic.” https://www.cnbc.com/...
Great pragmatic announcement by Amazon and Slack! Slack gets the much needed video & audio capabilities. AWS gets developer mindshare. Let's see how they build on this in the next year...
Microsoft Teams isn't popular in my startup network but based on Amazon and Slack announcement, they definitely see it as a big threat! Let's see what Zoom will do to add slack-like features and develop their platform play. https://twitter.com/...
I had initially imagined a Slack and Zoom formal tie-up, but for the time being it's Slack and Chime. AWS makes money regardless. What a business. 😀 https://twitter.com/...
Quite an admission, and self-burn, by an Amazon executive about his company's own video-chat product, Chime: “It's nice, but it's not Slack,” said Matt Garman, AWS' vice president for sales and marketing. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Amazon-Slack deal is multi-year -> “Today, Amazon Web Services .. an https://amazon.com/ company, and Slack Technologies .. announced a new multi-year agreement to deliver solutions for enhanced enterprise workforce collaboration.” https://www.businesswire.com/ ...
Amazon makes Slack available to all employees while Slack adopts AWS video-calling service Chime. Huge deal for Slack. Presents clear challenge both to Microsoft Teams and Azure https://www.cnbc.com/...
i've used Amazon Chime once and uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh not expecting it to improve Slack's voice/video chat much https://twitter.com/...
the Slack and Amazon partnership also means that ALL of Amazon's employees are moving to Slack. I don't have an exact number, but it could mean more than the IBM deal (350,000). This is a pretty big deal for Slack. https://www.theverge.com/...
This seems smart on both fronts, Butterfield told me earlier this year that even Slack doesn't use its own video tech internally. Gives off Walmart-Microsoft partnership vibes, too, uniting against a common foe. https://twitter.com/...
The reason @SlackHQ is tanking after hours is because despite its record revenue and #earnings beat, compared to other work from home tech like @zoom_us its numbers paled. Slack Announces Record First Quarter Fiscal Year 2021 Results https://seekingalpha.com/... $WORK #Slack #Tec…
Slack extends after-hours drop; revenue grew 50% in Q1, barely higher than the 49% reported in the last quarter, suggesting the pandemic is not spurring as much growth at Slack as at other companies. https://cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Slack shares started trading at $38.50 on 6/20/19 today after hours, the company didn't post the same huge revenue surge that Zoom did, and the stock is at $32.21 after hours, down 15% https://www.cnbc.com/...