Amazon Stock In Focus After Cloud Division AWS Commits $10B Investment In UK: Retail Investors Cheer

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud division of the e-commerce giant, said it plans to invest £8 billion (approximately $10.47 billion) over the next five years (2024-2028) for building, operating, and maintaining data centers in the UK.

AWS said the investment is estimated to contribute £14 billion to the UK's total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through to 2028, and support an average of over 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs on an annual basis.

AWS said the positions all form part of the AWS data center supply chain, ranging from construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and other jobs within the broader local economy.

Tanuja Randery, managing director for European, Middle East and Africa at AWS reportedly said the firm has seen a real uptake of cloud computing and AI technology by British businesses.

“So this will go toward helping our customers to really be able to harness cloud computing, because you need the data centers to be able to actually provide cloud computing for our customers,” she told CNBC in an interview.

Interestingly, Randery also stated that AWS is “working very constructively” with the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) but that authorities should balance regulation and innovation. “We worked very closely with governments and regulators around the world, we believe that it’s important to have regulation, but that regulation should continue to be innovation friendly,” she said.

Randery’s statement comes in the wake of UK’s anti-trust regulators reportedly scrutinizing Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon’s dominance in the cloud market.

Meanwhile, retail sentiment on Stocktwits inched-up into the ‘extremely bullish’ territory (80/100) from the ‘bearish’ zone a day ago.

Bullish followers of Amazon on Stocktwits are expressing optimism on the firm.

AWS also cited an independent analysis by Telecom Advisory Services to state that the total economic impact of cloud computing in the UK accounted for over £42 billion in 2023 —equivalent to 1.6% of GDP, or larger than the UK’s automotive manufacturing sector.

Moreover, the UK is an important geography for Amazon; it has made direct investments of more than £56 billion in the country between 2010 and 2022. Amazon also employs 75,000 people in the UK across over 100 sites, including more than 25 UK fulfillment centers and corporate offices in six cities.

UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said she is under no illusion to the scale of the challenge facing our economy. “Two quarters of positive economic growth does not make up for fourteen years of stagnation under the previous government,” she said.