Amazon to invest $50B to expand federal AI, computing capacity

Amazon on Monday announced a major plan to invest up to $50 billion to expand artificial intelligence and supercomputing capacity for Amazon Web Services’ federal cloud customers.

Starting in 2026, AWS will begin building advanced new data centers, adding nearly 1.3 gigawatts of AI and supercomputing power to serve U.S. government customers on the company’s AWS Top Secret, AWS Secret and AWS GovCloud (U.S.) platforms.

“Our investment in purpose-built government AI and cloud infrastructure will fundamentally transform how federal agencies leverage supercomputing,” AWS CEO Matt Garman said in a statement. “We’re giving agencies expanded access to advanced AI capabilities that will enable them to accelerate critical missions from cybersecurity to drug discovery. This investment removes the technology barriers that have held government back and further positions America to lead in the AI era.”

Through the investment, federal agencies will also gain broader access to AWS’s full suite of AI services, including Amazon SageMaker AI for model training and customization, Amazon Bedrock for model and agent deployment, AWS Trainium AI chips and Nvidia AI infrastructure. Amazon said the expanded capabilities will help agencies develop custom AI solutions, optimize massive datasets and enhance workforce productivity.

Amazon says the new capabilities will accelerate discovery and decision-making across government missions — helping agencies achieve in hours what once took weeks or months. It also said integrating AI with modeling and simulation will help America tackle complex challenges with “unprecedented” speed and precision. AWS supports more than 11,000 government agencies.

It is not clear how much of the $50 billion investment will specifically go toward Virginia infrastructure.

The AWS US East (Northern Virginia) Region launched in 2006 and has data centers in Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties. According to the most recently released data, AWS invested $63.9 billion in Virginia data centers between 2011 and 2022. The company credits AWS US East for adding an estimated $21.3 billion to the state’s gross domestic product and supporting 16,600 jobs.

In 2023, AWS announced plans to invest an additional $35 billion in Virginia by 2040 to establish multiple data center campuses across the state, adding a projected 1,000 jobs. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the new $50 billion investment does not include the previously announced $35 billion earmarked for Virginia data centers.

About $11 billion of that $35 billion Virginia investment is being allocated to two data centers under construction in Louisa County, where Amazon recently scrapped plans for a third data center campus amid backlash from county residents.

Earlier this month, Amazon provided an update on its Cosner Tech campus in the Fredericksburg region, where it has invested over $480 million, supporting hundreds of construction jobs and creating more than 50 permanent positions. The 329-acre campus will eventually include seven data centers.

Amazon as a whole has invested more than $161.3 billion in Virginia since 2010, including infrastructure and employee compensation, creating more than 43,000 full and part-time jobs. The company states that its investments have also supported an additional 117,500 jobs indirectly statewide in fields such as construction and professional services.