Amazon plans to spend $150bn on data centres to meet AI demand

Over the past two years, Amazon has committed to spending $148bn to build and operate data centres around the world.

Amazon plans to spend almost $150bn (€139bn) in the coming 15 years on data centres, giving the cloud-computing giant the firepower to handle an expected explosion in demand for artificial intelligence applications and other digital services.

The spending spree is a show of force as the company looks to maintain its grip on the cloud services market, where it holds about twice the share of No. 2 player Microsoft. Sales growth at Amazon Web Services, or AWS, slowed to a record low last year as business customers cut costs and delayed modernisation projects. Now spending is starting to pick up again, and Amazon is keen to secure land and electricity for its power-hungry facilities.