Amazon Bets $40bn on Cloud and AI Across the Pacific

The company says the project will add $45 billion to US gross domestic product during the same period.

The investment will be led by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and will fund the construction of data centres, regional cloud regions and AI training hubs across APEC member nations outside the United States.

Building the Fabric of AI

Amazon says the expansion will create thousands of skilled roles in engineering, construction and operations, both overseas and at home. The company argues that demand for American-made servers, chips and networking equipment will boost the US economy.

“These investments will create positive social and economic impact for both the US as well as the other APEC nations where Amazon operates,” the company said in its announcement.

The Global Cloud Race

The plan comes as technology giants compete to build the infrastructure that powers modern AI. Earlier this year, Amazon announced a £40 billion ($54 billion) investment in the United Kingdom to expand its AWS capacity and logistics network, part of a wider effort to increase its computing footprint.

According to TechRadar, Amazon’s total capital expenditure on data centres has already surpassed $100 billion, a figure greater than the GDP of many countries. The scale reflects the company’s central role in providing the physical backbone of the internet, from video streaming to AI model training.

Power, Progress and Pushback

The buildout of cloud infrastructure has also attracted criticism. Data centres consume large amounts of electricity and water, and their rapid spread has raised environmental concerns.

In the United Kingdom, campaigners warned that Amazon’s data centre expansion could strain local energy grids and increase carbon emissions. Similar challenges may emerge across the Asia-Pacific region, where countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are seeking digital investment while managing limited power capacity.

For these economies, Amazon’s investment promises jobs and technological development, but also tests the resilience of infrastructure and the sustainability of growth.

The Geopolitics of the Cloud

Amazon’s project fits a broader trend of the United States promoting “friendshoring” to strengthen economic ties with allied countries. By connecting overseas infrastructure to domestic job creation, the company positions itself as both a driver of American exports and a partner in regional digital transformation.

The projected $45 billion contribution to US GDP is based on Amazon’s internal modelling, and independent economists say such estimates are difficult to verify. Nonetheless, the initiative highlights how the economics of cloud and AI are increasingly entwined with national strategy.

The Invisible Empire

The cloud is no longer a metaphor but a physical network of concrete, steel and fibre optics that underpins the digital economy. Amazon’s $40 billion bet across the Pacific shows how the future of AI depends not only on algorithms but on the infrastructure that powers them.

The company that began as an online bookseller now builds the data pipelines and server farms that form the neural network of the modern internet — and, increasingly, the global economy.