Amazon announced it will invest $4 billion to build cloud infrastructure for its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division in Chile by the end of 2026.
The new AWS Region - Amazon’s third in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico - will allow governments, enterprises, and startups to access local data centres to run applications and serve end users with lower latency and greater efficiency, the company said in a statement.
The US tech giant will construct, connect, operate, and maintain the data centres in Chile as part of the expansion.
At launch, the AWS Region (cluster of data centres) in Chile will consist of three Availability Zones, adding to AWS’s existing 114 Availability Zones across 36 Regions worldwide.
AWS also plans to launch 16 additional Availability Zones and five new Regions in Chile, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Prasad Kalyanaraman, AWS Vice President of Infrastructure Services, said the new infrastructure will help companies across Latin America adopt technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to accelerate growth and improve productivity. It will also support “the fast-growing demand for cloud services across Latin America and in Chile with secure, reliable, and efficient cloud infrastructure.”
Chile’s Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Aisén Etcheverry Escudero, welcomed the investment, stating: “AWS’s infrastructure expansion in Chile is a clear example of the country’s commitment to advanced technology and innovation, and to the work we’ve done to create an environment where technology companies can thrive, with the National Data Center Plan leading the way.”
“This investment demonstrates clear confidence in our country and a commitment to technological development and innovation across the region,” she added.
