Amazon reportedly discussing billion euro investment in cloud plan with Italy

Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon that offers a cloud computing platform for companies, wants to invest billions of euros in the expansion of its data centre business in Italy.

That’s what four people familiar with the matter tell press agency Reuters.

Back in 2020, AWS launched its first cloud region in Italy. The American online retailer originally wanted to invest 2 billion euros by 2029. Rumors have arisen that AWS is willing to put more money on the table.

According to the sources Reuters spoke, all parties involved are discussing the size and the location of the investment. AWS is considering expanding its current site in Milan, or building a new one.

Neither AWS nor a spokesperson for the Italian government was available for comment. The same goes for a spokesperson of the Italian department of Industry.

Amazon is investing in cloud computing infrastructure all over Europe

Amazon wants to boost its cloud efforts in Europe. In order to make that happen, AWS is ready to invest billions of euros. Not just in Italy, but all over Europe.

Last week AWS announced it’s going to invest 15.7 billion euros in data centres in Spain’s northeastern region Aragon, calling it “the largest technology investment in Spain and southern Europe”. This new plan replaces a previous one disclosed in 2021, when AWS told Spain it was going to invest 2.5 billion euros.

In Germany, AWS plans to invest 7.8 billion euros in a cloud computing infrastructure for Europe between now and 2040. The investment would provide an average of 2,800 new full-time jobs in German businesses each year.

Market analysts and executives tell that many corporate customers are willing to spend more money on cloud computing after pausing last year. Prediction is that the interest in artificial intelligence will be the driving force of growth in the cloud infrastructure market, which is estimated to be worth 270 billion euros.