Amazon to Invest Nearly $20 Billion to Expand German Operations — Update
By Mauro Orru
Amazon.com plans to invest 17.8 billion euros ($19.12 billion) through 2040 to expand its logistics network and cloud infrastructure in Germany, the latest pledge from the U.S. tech giant to bolster its presence in Europe as the artificial intelligence bonanza powers demand for better cloud services.
The company on Wednesday earmarked EUR10 billion to expand operations in the country, saying it would add thousands of jobs this year at three new fulfillment centers. That investment comes on top of last month's EUR7.8 billion commitment from Amazon Web Services, the group's cloud-computing arm, to expand cloud services in Germany.
Advancements in AI have ushered in a wave of investments from tech giants seeking to bolster their offering and satisfy growing customer demand for more powerful data centers and more capable cloud services.
"To address the growing demand for our services, we're investing heavily in Germany's digital infrastructure," said Stefan Hoechbauer, managing director for Germany and Europe at Amazon Web Services.
Amazon last year unveiled plans for an independent sovereign cloud service in Europe, saying the project would help public-sector organizations and customers in highly regulated industries to navigate evolving data-storage requirements.
Now, Amazon plans to inject EUR8.8 billion by 2026 to expand, maintain and operate its cloud infrastructure in Europe's largest economy. The first launch of the group's AWS European Sovereign Cloud project is expected to take place in the German state of Brandenburg by the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, Amazon said its latest pledge would help create 4,000 new jobs this year in Germany, at a fulfillment center in Horn-Bad Meinberg opening in late summer, another in Erfurt that opened in May and one in Grossenkneten that opened last August.
Wednesday's announcement comes weeks after Amazon set out plans to invest EUR15.7 billion over the next decade to expand its cloud services in Aragon, a landlocked region in northeastern Spain where AWS already has a presence. The company launched services there in late 2022 for users to directly store their data in Spain.
Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 19, 2024 10:19 ET (14:19 GMT)
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