Amazon to invest AUD $20 billion in Australian AI expansion

Amazon has confirmed plans to invest a total of AUD $20 billion in expanding, operating, and maintaining its data centre infrastructure in Australia.

The investment, which will run from 2025 to 2029, represents the largest publicly-announced global technology investment in Australia's history. According to the company, the funding will support growing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) services, and advance the adoption and capability of AI across the nation.

This move aligns with the Australian Government's vision to leverage AI to improve productivity and drive economic growth.

The expanded infrastructure will allow Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers and partners to access the latest cloud and AI capabilities, while ensuring compliance with local data residency and regulatory standards. The Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources has stated that AI and automation could contribute up to AUD $600 billion to Australia's GDP each year by 2030.

Data centres and technology capability

AWS began its operations in Australia in 2012 with the launch of its Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region. The company has since added the AWS Asia Pacific (Melbourne) Region and introduced local zones in Perth, furthering its presence nationwide. Earlier this year, AWS launched Amazon Bedrock, its generative AI service, in Sydney, and has entered a partnership with the Australian Government for a "Top Secret" AWS Cloud to support national security and defence priorities.

Matt Garman, CEO of AWS, commented on the expanded investment in the country.

"This planned investment deepens our long-term commitment to supporting the growth and development of Australian organisations of all sizes and helping them harness the enormous opportunity that generative AI offers. We're proud to be expanding our world-class data centre infrastructure, bringing more renewable energy projects online, and supporting the country's vision to be a global AI leader. AI is a once-in-a-generation transformation, and Amazon is pleased to be empowering all Australians to innovate at scale through this investment."

Renewable energy initiatives

To support the data centre infrastructure, Amazon is investing in three new solar farms located in Victoria and Queensland.

Provided by European Energy, these sites will supply a combined capacity of more than 170 megawatts. This is additional to Amazon's prior eight solar and wind projects in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, which already help to power Amazon's Australian operations.

With all 11 renewable energy projects in operation, Amazon estimates they will generate over 1.4 million megawatt hours of carbon-free energy annually, which is enough to power approximately 290,000 Australian homes each year.

From 2020 to 2022, Amazon invested around AUD $467 million in Australian renewable projects.

The company was the third-largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in Australia in 2024, and states that it remains the largest purchaser globally. Accenture research indicates that shifting AI workloads to AWS may reduce carbon emissions by up to 94% when compared with traditional on-premises data centres.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the announcement and welcomed the overseas commitment.

"I am pleased to join Matt Garman to announce AWS's investment of AU$20 billion over five years to further develop and expand its data centres in Sydney and Melbourne. This is the largest investment our country has seen from a global technology provider, and is an exciting opportunity for Australia to build AI capability using secure, resilient infrastructure. This is exactly the kind of economic investment in our nation that we want to see, and creates opportunities for continued innovation and growth. The investment will generate economic opportunity for Australians, including skilled jobs and infrastructure that can support complex AI and supercomputing applications."

AI skills and workforce development

The AWS investment follows the recent launch of AWS AI Spring Australia, a collection of support programmes aimed at accelerating AI adoption in various industries.

Key initiatives include the AWS Generative AI Accelerator for early-stage startups and the AWS AI Launchpad for enterprises beginning their AI journeys. AWS states it will offer targeted support and collaboration with educational institutions, industry, and government partners.

Since 2017, AWS has trained over 400,000 Australians in digital skills. Its training options span from the Work-Based Learning Program, a 12-month operation-focused curriculum, to the AI Ready initiative, which aims to provide free AI skills training to two million people globally by next year.

Broader industry implications

AWS's services are used by hundreds of thousands of organisations in Australia across sectors such as enterprise, public sector, and startups.

Customers include ANZ Bank, Atlassian, Canva, Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Optus, and Westpac. The expansion is positioned to further facilitate their access to cloud and AI tools.

AWS affirms its ongoing commitment to collaborating with the government, private sector, and academia to build Australia's AI capability and to support future technology and AI talent.