Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest $15 billion in its existing cloud infrastructure in Japan by 2027 to meet growing customer demand. The world’s largest cloud service provider, which entered the Japanese market in 2009, currently has cloud infrastructure in Tokyo and Osaka.
Between 2011 and 2022, AWS invested $10.2 billion in building, connecting, operating and maintaining its data centers in Japan. This latest investment brings AWS's total cloud investment planned in the country to about $25 billion by 2027.
As of January 2024, there are about 150 AWS Academy member institutions in Japan and around 150,000 Japanese sellers on Amazon. In fiscal year 2023, the sales revenue of online retailer Amazon Japan amounted to around 3.2 trillion Japanese yen or $21.6 billion.
"Our investments in cloud infrastructure are creating a domino effect across industries in Japan, including the public and government sectors," said AWS Japan President Tadao Nagasaki. “This will enable more Japanese organizations to access and deploy emerging and innovative digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning,” he added.
In October 2023, AWS launched its flagship generative AI service, Amazon Bedrock, in the Greater Tokyo Area. The company cites leading Japanese conglomerates like the Asahi Group, FP Corporation, KDDI, and Ricoh as some of the early adopters of AWS’ generative AI technology.
In a separate press release that welcomed AWS’ added investment into Japan, then Digital Minister and current Director of the Digital Society Promotion Council Takuya Hirai said, “Developing Japan's digital infrastructure is the key to strengthening Japan's industrial competitiveness, and data centers play an important role in this.”
The former minister also emphasized the role of emerging technologies in boosting Japan’s research and development capabilities.