Amazon to invest $13 billion in Australia's data center infrastructure over five years

By Surbhi Misra

June 14 (Reuters) - Amazon AMZN.O will invest A$20 billion ($12.97 billion) from 2025 to 2029 to expand, operate and maintain its data center infrastructure in Australia, bolstering the nation's artificial intelligence capabilities, it said in a blog post on Saturday.

The investment is Amazon's largest global technology commitment in Australia, with funding directed toward new server capacity and support for generative AI workloads.

The company is also investing in three new solar farms in Victoria and Queensland, and will commit to buy a combined capacity of more than 170 megawatts across the three farms, it added.

"Amazon Web Services' $20 billion investment in data centres in Australia will set us up for the future, boosting our economy and productivity," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a post on social media platform X.

"This is a huge vote of confidence in the Australian economy," he added.

Major tech companies worldwide are expanding their infrastructure to support rapidly growing demand for generative AI and cloud computing.

Companies like Amazon, Microsoft MSFT.O and Google GOOGL.O have been ramping up data center investments to secure market share and meet AI workload requirements.

On Monday, Amazon announced plans to invest at least $20 billion in Pennsylvania to expand data center infrastructure, adding on to the billions of dollars the technology giant has committed to the expansion of AI.

In early June, the company said it will invest $10 billion in North Carolina and announced plans to invest more than $5 billion in its new cloud infrastructure in Taiwan.

($1 = 1.5418 Australian dollars)