Amazon said it will spend at least $20 billion to build data centers in Pennsylvania, the latest investment announced this year as the tech giant builds out its global artificial intelligence and cloud computing capabilities.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant plans to build data center campuses at the Keystone Trade Center in Bucks County's Fairless Hills, outside Philadelphia, and Salem Township in Luzerne County, a small rural town about 300 miles east of Pittsburgh.
The projects that include the facility in Salem Township, next to Talen Energy's Susquehanna nuclear power plant, will create a total of at least 1,250 jobs, according to the announcement by Amazon and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Amazon will use the data centers to power its Amazon Web Services cloud computing platform that provides data storage, IT services and AI-powered computing and analytics for businesses and other enterprises.
The initial investment from Amazon is "the largest private sector investment in the history of Pennsylvania," and sets the stage for other data center developments in the state, with "multiple additional Pennsylvania communities" under consideration, Shapiro said.
With the Pennsylvania projects, Amazon has now announced a total of at least $46 billion in data center investments this year, with $35 billion in projects announced just in the past week.
The tech giant last week said it would invest $10 billion to develop multiple facilities that will employ around 500 people in North Carolina.
Also last week, Amazon Web Services said it would spend $5 billion on data centers to support its newly launched cloud region in Taiwan, and in January, the company announced plans to spend at least $11 billion on data centers in Georgia.
Amazon plans to keep spending heavily on data centers this year, with “substantial capital” required to stay competitive in AI and cloud computing innovation, CEO Andy Jassy said in his annual letter to shareholders released in April.
“The faster demand grows, the more data centers, chips and hardware we need to procure, and AI chips are much more expensive than CPU chips,” Jassy said.
Amazon said that the vast majority of its planned $100 billion in spending on capital expenditures this year will be to expand AI capabilities in its Amazon Web Services cloud service. The company is also considering a $15 billion plan to add roughly 80 logistics facilities in U.S. cities and rural areas.
Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI and other firms are spending hundreds of billions on data centers, even as Trump's tariffs threaten to increase development costs that could potentially stymie the nation’s booming AI industry.
The Salem Township and Falls Township data centers will be Amazon's first cloud computing and artificial intelligence in Pennsylvania. But the e-commerce firm is not new to The Keystone State.
Amazon has invested more than $26 billion in Pennsylvania since 2010, with a logistics footprint that now includes 23 fulfillment and sortation centers and 20 last-mile delivery stations, the company said.
"By expanding our cloud computing infrastructure, we're investing in Pennsylvania's future through new jobs, workforce development programs and community initiatives," David Zapolsky, Amazon's chief global affairs and legal officer, said in the joint statement with Shapiro.