- Amazon Web Services commits AU$20bn to expand cloud and AI infrastructure across Australia by 2029.
- The plan includes data centres, solar farms, and digital upskilling to support national innovation goals.
What happened: AWS invests AU$20bn in Australian cloud and AI infrastructure
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing an additional AU$20 billion between 2025 and 2029 to expand its data-centre infrastructure across Australia, marking the largest-ever global tech investment in the country. This funding will not only support new or upgraded data centres in Sydney and Melbourne but also finance three solar farms in Victoria and Queensland to power them sustainably.
AWS has already trained over 400,000 Australians in digital skills, and this investment comes atop earlier additions including the Amazon Bedrock generative AI service launched in Sydney in April 2024, and a “Top Secret” national security cloud unveiled in mid‑2024.
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Why it’s important
This unprecedented scale of investment signals AWS’s intent to cement Australia as a key node in the global AI and cloud infrastructure network. Its planned expansion supports local data‑residency, a priority amid tighter regulations, and aligns with federal ambitions to extract AU$600 billion in annual GDP from AI and automation by 2030. The deployment of green energy solutions demonstrates AWS’s dual commitment to growth and sustainability, reinforcing its credentials as a forward‑thinking operator in an industry under environmental scrutiny.
Furthermore, AWS’s investment mirrors a broader surge in hyperscale infrastructure projects worldwide—including Google’s US developments and Microsoft’s AI-driven datacentre rollout—highlighting an arms race among cloud titans vying for dominance in both capability and efficiency. For Australian businesses and developers, this means faster access to advanced AI, secure data hosting under regional compliance, and more robust cloud tools. It also drives regional economic benefits: new data centres create jobs, enhance digital skills through community initiatives, and support enterprises’ digital transformation. As the digital economy matures, AWS’s strategic investment paints Australia as a future-facing technology hub—one poised to power both national innovation and global cloud services.