Amazon launches Amazon Web Services (2006)
Amazon, a retailer, began renting out computing and storage capacity it had built for its own use. The cloud business started small and was dismissed by some as a distraction from selling books and electronics.
AWS grew quietly while competitors underestimated it.
It became Amazon's most profitable arm and the backbone of much of the internet, proving that an infrastructure side business can outgrow the core.
Like Amazon, SpaceX is turning infrastructure built for itself into a rental business that may rival its original purpose.
