Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest at least $11 billion in Georgia to expand infrastructure to support cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
The investment is expected to create at least 550 new skilled jobs and bolster the state’s position as technology hub, the company said in a Tuesday (Jan. 7) press release.
“AWS’s ongoing infrastructure investments across the United States demonstrate our relentless commitment to powering our customers’ digital innovation through cloud and AI technologies,” Roger Wehner, vice president of economic development at AWS, said in the release.
In Georgia in particular, Wehner said, “State and local leaders have cultivated an environment that enables companies like AWS to make bold, forward-looking investments.”
The investment will help expand data centers in the state, per the release. It will also create hundreds of new, direct AWS jobs in roles like data center engineers, network specialists, engineering operations managers and security specialists, as well as supporting thousands of jobs in construction and the data center supply chain.
It was reported in November that tech giants’ investments in cloud infrastructure were paying off due to the demand for AI. While the momentum for cloud businesses began to slow in early 2022 as companies completed their migration to the cloud, it picked up more recently because companies need the infrastructure for AI.
Microsoft announced Friday (Jan. 3) that it plans to invest $80 billion to build AI-focused data centers in fiscal 2025 — more than half of which will be deployed in the United States — saying it is doing so amid a “golden opportunity for American AI.”
“The massive data centers that make all this possible are being built by construction firms, steel and other manufacturers, and innovative advances in electricity and liquid cooling, all reliant on large numbers of skilled electricians and pipefitters, including members of organized labor unions,” Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote in a Friday blog post.
In September, the White House announced the formation of a new task force aimed at enhancing the development of data centers. The task force’s primary focus will be to coordinate policies that foster the growth of data centers while balancing economic, national security and environmental objectives.
