Amazon has announced a landmark A$20 billion (US$13 billion) investment to expand, operate, and maintain its data center infrastructure in Australia between 2025 and 2029—a move seen as part of a sweeping global shift by tech giants to secure dominance in the fast-emerging AI economy.
Described as Amazon’s largest technology commitment in Australia, the investment will focus on scaling cloud infrastructure and boosting capacity for generative AI workloads, according to a company blog post. The spending will primarily support Amazon Web Services (AWS) operations across Sydney and Melbourne and is expected to create thousands of jobs while accelerating digital innovation in the region.
“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.” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
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The investment comes at a time when major players, including Microsoft, Google, and Meta, are significantly ramping up spending on data infrastructure to prepare for what analysts widely view as an AI-driven economic shift. With the artificial intelligence industry projected to reach $1.81 trillion in market value by 2030, according to Grand View Research, competition for infrastructure, talent, and market share has intensified globally.
Tech companies are now racing to secure the computational power and cloud bandwidth necessary to run AI models that require massive energy and data resources. As these workloads grow in complexity, firms are establishing high-density data centers capable of supporting the next generation of AI tools, including generative applications like ChatGPT and enterprise-level automation systems.
Amazon’s Australia project underscores this broader strategy. In addition to data center expansion, the company is investing in clean energy to meet the high electricity demands of AI systems. Amazon said it will build three new solar farms in Victoria and Queensland, purchasing over 170 megawatts of combined capacity. These new projects bring the company’s total renewable energy portfolio in Australia to 11, with enough capacity to generate approximately 1.4 million megawatt-hours annually—enough to power nearly 290,000 homes.
Globally, Amazon has committed tens of billions to similar initiatives. In recent weeks, the company unveiled plans to invest $20 billion in Pennsylvania, $10 billion in North Carolina, and over $5 billion in Taiwan to build new cloud infrastructure. AWS CEO Matt Garman said these investments reflect the company’s “long-term vision” of AI becoming foundational to modern business and national development.
“This planned investment deepens our long-term commitment to supporting the growth and development of Australian organizations of all sizes and helping them harness the enormous opportunity that generative AI offers. We’re proud to be expanding our world-class data center 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,” he said.
The new facilities are expected to help local enterprises, startups, and public sector organizations accelerate the adoption of AI technologies, enhancing productivity and reducing infrastructure costs.
