Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) cloud computing unit has committed to investing a minimum of $5 billion in South Korea by 2031 to establish new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
AWS Investment To Boost Billions In US GDP
Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced the move at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2025 summit on Wednesday, according to Reuters, citing the South Korean presidential office. The new data centers will be located on the outskirts of Seoul.
Garman also revealed AWS’s broader investment plans, stating, “At AWS, we’ve invested and committed to investment of an additional $40 billion across 14 non-U.S. APEC countries and economies between now and 2028.” He also stated that the move is expected to generate an additional $45 billion in U.S. GDP and create broader downstream gains for the APEC region.
Meanwhile, Lee expressed that Amazon’s investment would accelerate the growth of South Korea’s AI industry ecosystem, aligning with the nation’s goal to be among the top three AI leaders globally.
Amazon was among seven global companies that have collectively committed $9 billion in investment over the next five years.
South Korea Doubles Down On AI Infrastructure
The investment by AWS comes amid a surge in AI-related activities in South Korea. Earlier in June, Alibaba Group Holding's (NYSE:BABA) cloud unit announced plans to launch its second data center in South Korea to capitalize on the AI frenzy. The company committed at least $53 billion over the next three years towards AI infrastructure ambitions.
In October, OpenAI, backed by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), partnered with Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) and SK Hynix to construct a dedicated AI data center in southwest Korea.
The AWS investment announcement also comes a day before Amazon’s Q3 earnings report, which is being closely watched amid recent negative headlines about AWS outages and job cuts. Analysts expect the company to report third-quarter revenue of $177.72 billion, with the earnings report due after the market close on Thursday.
Benzinga's Edge Rankings place Amazon in the 93rd percentile for growth and the 46th percentile for value, reflecting its mixed performance. Check the detailed report here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
