Amazon Web Services (AWS)  has announced the opening of a new infrastructure region in Auckland, New Zealand for 2024. The new infrastructure region will house three new Availability Zones (AZs) within the existing 81 Availability Zones. It will allow developers, startups, enterprises and government, education and NGOs to run their apps and serve end users, ensuring that customers who wish to keep their data in NZ can do so. 

Additionally, an economic impact study (EIS) carried out by AWS predicted the employment of 1,000 new jobs through this investment of NZ$ 7.5 Bn in the new region. Over the next 15 years, the EIS estimates a significant increase in NZ’s GDP by NZ$10.8 Bn, through construction and the operation of AWS infrastructure. This new investment is an expansion of AWS’s ongoing one since the first local entity back in 2014, through the launch of two Amazon CloudFront edge locations and AWS Outposts, Their continued investment targeted the upskilling of local developers, students and the next generation of IT leaders.

Entrepreneurship programs were also commissioned, whereby AWS offered startups and small businesses support through guided one-on-one time, web-based training, customer support, third party offers and up to $100,000 in AWS service credits.

Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services, AWS has said: “AWS supports thousands of organisations across New Zealnds in their drive to innovate, succeed, and grow globally. AWS Cloud technology is providing new ways for governments to further engage with citizens, for enterprises to innovate for their next phase of growth, and for entrepreneurs to build businesses and compete on a global scale.”

Amazon’s mission is to run its operations in an environmentally friendly, sustainable way and reach net zero carbon by 2040. By carrying out their 100% renewable energy plan, the company is on its way to achieving this by 2025.