Amazon has committed to investing $4 billion in Chile to develop and maintain an Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure region of data centers in the South American country.
The investment will support the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of data centers in that country. Amazon made the announcement on Wednesday, committing to the investment towards building an infrastructure region of data centers by the end of next year, an initiative that will support both new and existing Amazon customers.
Amazon also wants to develop talent in China
According to a TechCrunch article, Amazon intends to develop three availability zones or groups of isolated data centers in the new AWS region. This adds to the existing 114 AZs across 36 global regions.
AWS vice president of infrastructure services Prasad Kalyanaraman said the initiative is expected to support growth and innovation in Chile.
“The AWS South America (Chile) Region will help serve the fast-growing demand for cloud services across Latin America and in Chile with secure, reliable, and efficient cloud infrastructure.”
Kalyanaraman.
“With the new AWS Region, organizations will have the ability to build with advanced AWS technologies, like artificial intelligence and machine learning, to help accelerate growth, productivity, and innovation,” added Kalyanaraman.
The company indicated that it also plans to hire and develop local talent to operate and support the country.
“By investing in local talent, educational opportunities, and digital skills training, we’re proud to contribute to Chile’s economic growth and digital transformation for years to come,” said Kalyanaraman.
According to TechCrunch, AWS already has several customers in Chile, among them LATAM Airlines, Agrosuper, and Andres Bello National University. Chile is not a totally new investment destination for Amazon. The company has invested in AWS infrastructure and services in Chile before.
In 2021, Amazon launched outside posts in Chile, and this reportedly helped extend on-premises access to AWS in the country. In 2023, Amazon gave its customers the ability to leverage private connectivity between AWC and their data centers or offices. Amazon later rolled out AWS Local Zones that same year to help customers connect to very low-latency AWS offerings.
Amazon expands its projects across the globe
According to Data Center Dynamics (DCD), Amazon has been considering a data center in Chile since 2017, but got the green light for a $205 million data center project in Santiago in 2024. The company later received approval for a second data center in the city, also for $205 million worth of investment in that same year.
Its development in Chile has also been necessitated by that country’s conducive environment, which enables innovation and the technology sector to thrive.
“AWS’s infrastructure expansion in Chile is a clear example of the country’s commitment to advanced technology and innovation, and to the work we’ve done to create an environment where technology companies can thrive, with the National Data Center Plan leading the way.”
Aisén Etcheverry Escudero, minister of science, technology, knowledge and innovation.
Amazon is not only busy with these projects in South America alone, but is currently developing Availability Zones and Regions in New Zealand and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Last November, the company announced a 10.1 billion-real ($1.8 billion) investment for data center infrastructure expansion in Brazil, focusing on new sites over a period of over 10 years. Brazil is reportedly attracting data center investments supported by its tax breaks for green tech.
Early this year, AWS launched a cloud region in Mexico following announcements of the region in February last year as part of a commitment to invest $5 billion in 15 years.
The Mexican Cloud region, which is located in Querétaro, comprises three availability zones to support business and provide low latency for high availability applications that use multiple zones.
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