Amazon to invest $9bn in Singapore to expand cloud services

Announcement comes after rival Microsoft last week unveiled major investments in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Amazon has announced plans to invest $9bn in Singapore to expand cloud infrastructure in the city-state.

The announcement at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ASEAN Summit on Tuesday comes after the Seattle-based tech giant last year unveiled multibillion-dollar investments in cloud services in Malaysia and Thailand.

“AWS is doubling down on its cloud infrastructure investments in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to support customer demand, and help reinforce Singapore’s status as an attractive regional innovation launchpad,” AWS Country Manager Priscilla Chong said.

Amazon said the investment would support more than 12,000 jobs at Singaporean businesses each year and $23.7bn worth of value to Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Amazon’s announcement is the latest in a series of moves by United States-based tech titans to expand their footprint in Southeast Asia.

Microsoft last week unveiled multibillion-dollar investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in December undertook a tour of Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore, while Apple CEO Tim Cook last month visited Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.

On Monday, Malaysia’s trade and investment minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said Google would announce plans to invest in the country “in the near future”, the state-run news agency Bernama reported.

Global consulting firm Kearney has estimated that AI could contribute nearly $1 trillion to Southeast Asia’s GDP by 2030.

Amazon was the world’s biggest cloud infrastructure provider in the first three months of this year through AWS, according to Synergy Research Group.

The tech giant last week reported a three-fold rise in operating income to $15.3bn, mostly driven by the performance of its advertising and cloud businesses.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies