AWS Plans Data Center Expansion In Brazil

'With this important investment by AWS, Amazon's cloud computing company, we are going to generate more jobs, technology and opportunities for startups as well, placing the state of São Paulo in the global context,' São Paulo Governor João Doria says.

Amazon Web Services will invest $236 million to expand its data center presence in the Brazilian state of São Paulo and strengthen its cloud infrastructure in South America.

The investment will be made over two years, according to a press release issued by São Paulo Governor João Doria, who said the announcement follows a São Paulo governmental trade mission to the United States in November. Reuters first reported the news.

"Over the next two years, AWS will invest $1 billion BRL to expand the AWS South America (Sao Paulo) Region to support increased customer adoption of AWS,” an AWS spokesperson told CRN.

The new AWS investment will be used to expand AWS' cloud computing services offerings to support the growing adoption of AWS by customers in the private and public sectors in South America, the press release states, according to a Google translation.

"With this important investment by AWS, Amazon's cloud computing company, we are going to generate more jobs, technology and opportunities for startups as well, placing the state of São Paulo in the global context," Doria said.

AWS, the largest public cloud computing provider, launched its only South American cloud region in São Paulo in 2011. The region has three EC2 availability zones. AWS also has five edge network locations in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“This is our first large expansion, and we're pleased to do that here in São Paolo,” Shannon Kellogg, vice president of AWS public policy for the Americas, said in a video on Doria’s Facebook page. “This is the only AWS region that we have in Latin America, so we're super happy to be here, and we're looking forward to many months and years of growth.”

AWS did not immediately respond to CRN’s requests for comment.

The announcement follows a collaboration agreement between AWS and Centro Paula Souza – a São Paulo state government agency that manages the state's technology schools -- for access to the company's cloud services platform learning programs.

Last October, Bloomberg reported that AWS planned to spend approximately $800 million over a decade on a new South American data center in a free trade zone – known as the Zona Franca Bahía Blanca Coronel Rosales area -- in the southwest of the Buenos Aires province of Argentina. AWS opened an office in Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital city, in April 2018, and last June said it would invest in an Amazon CloudFront edge location there.