Amazon plans to spend $9 billion to expand its cloud computing infrastructure in Singapore, becoming the latest global tech company to increase its investment in Southeast Asia.
The company said Tuesday the investment will be spent over four years, doubling Amazon Web Services' investment in Singapore and helping it meet customer demand for cloud services and accelerate the spread and adoption of artificial intelligence.
Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s internet services business, sells software and applications, and rents out data storage space on massive servers. In recent years, the company has been expanding outside the United States, with much of its new investment going to Asian markets.
Other technology companies, such as Microsoft and Apple, are also expanding into Southeast Asia, a market of more than 650 million people, in part to diversify their investments outside China and mitigate political risk amid current tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Plan to invest $35 billion abroad
Amazon Web Services this year announced plans to spend about $35 billion outside the United States, including a new investment in Singapore and other investments in Japan, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. The company is also building data centers in Malaysia and Thailand.
Last month, Amazon said its Internet Services unit was on track to exceed $100 billion in annual sales for the first time. Officials at the parent company say AWS is benefiting from technology upgrades at companies as well as demand for artificial intelligence services.
The announcement comes as Amazon Web Services (AWS) ASEAN Summit is taking place in Singapore, where AI will take center stage alongside a range of initiatives from the US company. Singapore was the first region in which Amazon Web Services (AWS) established a data center in Asia.
Singapore has become a hub for American companies in Asia, such as Meta Platforms and Alphabet, and is considered a gateway to the Southeast Asia region in general, which is expected to achieve rapid growth rates.
Microsoft, Amazon's biggest competitor in the cloud services market, toured local economies last week, with CEO Satya Nadella announcing a raft of investments and initiatives in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
