Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced it intends to spend almost $12 billion on five new data centers in Morrow County near Portland, Oregon.
The cloud hosting division of the tech giant said that the investment will more than double the size of its operations in the relatively rural region.
Morrow County, with a population of just 12,000, will apparently receive hundreds of new jobs as a result of the deal according to Amazon, as well as a boost to regional tax income.
What does the move mean?
Amazon says the move will mean 600 new tech jobs for the region, that will pay an average of $75,000.
Each new data center is set to cost around $2.37 billion, with about $280 million being earmarked for the land and buildings.
The single-story data center buildings are set to measure 20,000 sqm each.
According to the documents, construction is set to begin during Q3 2026, with hiring expected to commence in Q4 2026.
The latest announcement builds on Amazon’s already significant investment within Morrow County; the cloud giant already has four data centers running along the Columbia River.
Amazon has already received tax breaks in the region of with a value of around $161 million in the past five years according to local newspaper Oregon Live.
The news comes as the AWS has been announcing significant investments in the UK.
AWS is set to pump billions into the UK, and has said it will spend more than £1.8 billion over the next two years on UK-related expansion, more than double its existing total investment.
The investments come as the enterprise demand for cloud backup is reportedly set to remain buoyant.
Aanalyst house Gartner recently predicted global public cloud spending will rise 20.4% in 2022 to a total of $494.7 billion, up from $410.9 billion in 2021.
Via The Register