AWS unveils major investment, new cloud region in Taiwan as cloud demand grows
Amazon Web Serivces (AWS) has committed to investing billions of dollars in Taiwan over the next fifteen years to expand its cloud infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
Initial investments are expected to be confirmed as early as 2025, with billions likely to be set aside “as part of the long-term commitment” (via The Wall Street Journal).
The new AWS Region in Taiwan will feature three availability zones, consisting of isolated locations with their own data centers equipped with independent power, cooling and physical security.
Expansion of AWS Taiwan
The boost to cloud infrastructure will enable companies in the region to access increasingly popular artificial intelligence and machine learning tools through local sites with high bandwidth and low latency.
Amazon’s investment in the region, which builds on its decade-long history with Taiwan, is part of a broader strategy to expand its infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. Just last month, AWS committed $9 billion to improve its cloud services in Singapore over the next five years. It also recently confirmed an investment of $6 billion in Malaysia and $5 billion in Thailand.
The current 105 availability zones within 33 AWS regions are expected to grow by an additional 21 availability zones and seven regions in the coming years.
Of the eight million people the company says it has trained in the Asia-Pacific-Japan region since 2017, only 100,000 were Taiwanese citizens. The latest announcement and upcoming confirmation will likely include further training efforts and economic benefits in the country.
More broadly, the company’s fairly aggressive expansion comes in response to similar efforts by Google and Microsoft, which have also committed to expanding their footprint in Asia Pacific.
However, it is clear that it works. AWS remains Amazon’s most profitable part, accounting for $25 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2024, representing a mighty 17% year-over-year growth.