Amazon is to invest more than $1 billion over five years in job training, free community college places and energy-efficiency improvements as it seeks to address opposition to the data centres powering its artificial intelligence ambitions.
Matt Garman, chief executive of Amazon Web Services, announced the Built Together programme while defending the company’s expanding data-centre network in the United States.
Mr Garman said Amazon understood communities’ “apprehension” about new facilities, but warned that more than 100 proposed data-centre moratoriums could threaten America’s position in the AI race.
“If these measures are enacted, the U.S. could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations,” he wrote. “As a country, we can’t afford to find ourselves in that position.”
What Amazon’s data centre investment will fund
Built Together is intended to respond to concerns that data centres increase pressure on energy supplies and local infrastructure without delivering sufficient long-term benefits to residents.
Amazon said it would cover students’ remaining community college costs after financial aid for selected certificates and associate degrees, including courses in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, fibre optics and information technology. It estimates that more than 300,000 students could gain access over five years.
The company also said its skilled-trades centres aim to train up to 100,000 workers a year for roles with Amazon and its construction partners by the end of 2028.
Energy-efficiency upgrades are planned for more than 30,000 homes and over 300 schools and community buildings. Amazon said local officials and community groups would help direct funding towards projects such as roads, parks, fire equipment, affordable housing and food assistance.
“This is not Amazon deciding what communities need—it is Amazon providing resources and letting communities decide,” Mr Garman wrote, adding that the company would provide annual funding and transparent reporting on the results.
The initiative comes as resistance grows in several parts of the US. New York introduced a statewide moratorium on new large data centres in July, while opposition has also emerged in Virginia, a major data-centre market.
In Loudoun County, Virginia, officials are objecting to a proposed 800,000-square-foot facility on the former George Washington University Virginia Science and Technology campus. A poll conducted in March found that 35 per cent of people in Virginia would be comfortable with a new data centre being built in the state.
Amazon has also sought to challenge claims that data centres are responsible for higher electricity bills and increased water use. Mr Garman said rising energy costs in some states were primarily linked to ageing grids that had not been expanded before demand increased.
He said Amazon’s average data centre used less than 13,000 gallons of water a day, while the facilities provided tax revenue and construction jobs. In St Joseph County, Indiana, Amazon estimates it will pay more than $3 billion in taxes over the same period, compared with $1.2 million generated by the land’s previous use.
Other technology companies are pursuing similar measures. Microsoft has pledged to cover electricity and grid costs linked to its facilities, while Meta has said it invested more than $550 million in water and wastewater infrastructure in communities hosting its data centres.
