Amazon Bets Big On Japan By Planning A $15.24 Billion Investment Within Four Years

On Friday, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's largest cloud computing company, announced plans to invest 2.26 trillion yen (equivalent to $15.24 billion) over the next four years until 2027 in Japan, to expand its cloud computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence (AI) technology services.

With the popularization of generative artificial intelligence, data processing volume is expected to explode in the future. AWS said in a statement that the company is investing to expand its facilities in Tokyo and Osaka to meet the growing customer demand.

Currently, Amazon is providing generative artificial intelligence services to enterprise customers in Japan, including Asahi Group, Marubeni, and Nomura Holdings.

Prior to this, from 2011 to 2022, AWS had spent 1.51 trillion yen (equivalent to $10.15 billion) on a massive build-out of cloud computing capacity for processing and storing customer data, among other functions. AWS stated that this investment will build upon the previous foundation.

This investment comes at a time when the Japanese government and businesses are vigorously developing the field of artificial intelligence, trying to catch up with the leaders in the field.

Last year, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with the heads of OpenAI, the manufacturer of ChatGPT, and advanced chip manufacturer Nvidia, to discuss artificial intelligence regulation and infrastructure.

It's worth noting that this massive investment will surpass AWS's planned investment of 1.056 trillion rupees (equivalent to $12.7 billion) in India. While India is generally seen as a market with huge growth potential, AWS seems to be more optimistic about its Japanese market.

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