Amazon AWS: AWS's $35billion investment in Virginia

Between 2011 and 2020, Amazon Web Services (AWS) injected $35 billion into its cloud computing infrastructure in Northern Virginia, which is a hub for data centers and the largest single concentration of corporate data centers globally. This information was released by a recent report by the tech giant. 

Commenting on what this investment indicates, Blair Anderson, director of AWS public policy at Amazon, said it “shows the impact that can happen when government and industry work together to create growth opportunities for communities.”

This $35 billion worth of investment was distributed across IT equipment, construction labor and materials, utilities, security, data center employee salaries, in association with “third-party services to build and operate data centers.”

According to Amazon estimates, Virginia data centers contributed approximately $1.3 billion in GDP in 2020. Moreover, these facilities supported around 13,500 jobs in the same year.

In addition to this, AWS amassed $45 billion in revenue in 2020. Reports outline this is 54% of Amazon’s operating income in its most recent quarter. 

Looking into the future, by 2023, AWS plans to establish 15 new utility-scale solar farms across the region. These solar farms will reportedly have a capacity of 1,430 megawatts.

Since 2001, the giant has made a $4.3 billion contribution to Virginia.