Amazon Plans $10B AI Expansion in North Carolina

Amazon (AMZN) announced on Wednesday that it will invest $10 billion to build new data centers in North Carolina, marking a significant expansion of its artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure footprint.

The investment nearly doubles the $12 billion Amazon has already committed to North Carolina since 2010.

The company said the project will create 500 high-skilled jobs and support thousands more through its AWS data center supply chain. The new facilities, located in Richmond County, are part of Amazon’s push to meet the rising demand for cloud computing and generative AI workloads.

“Generative AI is driving increased demand for advanced cloud infrastructure and compute power, and our investment will support the future of AI from AWS data centers in the Tar Heel State,” Amazon said in a blog post.

North Carolina Governor Josh Stein called the investment “among the largest in state history,” adding that it would bring “hundreds of good-paying jobs and an economic boost to Richmond County.”

In January, Amazon committed to investing at least $11 billion in building similar data center capacity in Georgia. The company announced in February that it had earmarked $100 billion in capital expenditures for 2025 to support global growth in cloud and AI.

To help power its expanding infrastructure, Amazon has also increased its investment in nuclear energy. It has committed more than $500 million to small modular reactor (SMR) development, including a significant stake in SMR developer X-energy.

Amazon has also been ramping up its AI offerings, including proprietary language models, custom Trainium chips, a generative AI shopping assistant, and Bedrock, a marketplace for third-party models. It has also invested $8 billion in AI startup Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot.

Amazon’s stock edged 0.4% higher in midday trade on Wednesday. The shares have fallen 7% this year but gained more than 16% over the last 12 months. 

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