‘With any change, there will be important questions raised, but there will also be misinformation and outright lies, and in the age of social media and 24/7 news, myths take hold faster than ever before,’ says AWS CEO Matt Garman.
AWS is investing $18 billion in Germany to build out its AI data center and infrastructure in the country as Amazon continues to pour billions of dollars into global AI infrastructure expansion amid some public backlash.
“Infrastructure is only part of what it takes to build with AI,” said AWS CEO Matt Garman in a LinkedIn post unveiling the $18 billion investment. “People need the skills and tools to put it to work.”
The investment will fund data center and AI infrastructure expansion, high-speed satellite internet through Amazon Leo, and new logistics projects.
“Through the AWS Tech Alliance, we’ve reached more than 20,000 students since 2023, so they enter the workforce ready to build with AI from day one,” he added. “We’re investing in the next generation of cloud and AI talent so that German innovation keeps thriving.”
AWS currently employs 3,000 people in Germany. Amazon said it has created more than 40,000 permanent jobs in Germany thanks to its technology build-out in the country since 2010.
The Seattle-based $169 billion cloud market-share leader is investing $5.4 billion in Germany’s Frankfurt Region in 2027 as part of its broader $18 billion investment in the country.
AWS CEO On Public Backlash On AI Data Centers: ‘The U.S. Could Be Writing Its Own Losing Ticket’
Amazon’s huge investments come as hyperscalers and data center providers are facing backlash from local communities and politicians where data centers are being built.
Some people are expressing concerns over the amount of energy, water and land needed to run these massive AI data centers that house tens of thousands of servers, storage, networking and other hardware devices.
This month, AWS CEO Garman addressed those concerns head-on in a lengthy blog post, dubbing many of the data center issues at hand “misinformation.”
“With any change, there will be important questions raised, but there will also be misinformation and outright lies, and in the age of social media and 24/7 news, myths take hold faster than ever before,” he said.
He said there are widespread reports of various countries intentionally seeding misinformation in the U.S. about data centers “to trick us into slowing down.”
“Right now, there are over 100 data center moratoriums being considered across the country. If these measures are enacted, the U.S. could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations,” Garman said. “As a country, we can’t afford to find ourselves in that position.”
AWS Partner: AI Success Stories Should Outweigh Fear
AWS Premier Partner Caylent’s CEO, Val Henderson, believes people fear the uncertainty of AI but fail to acknowledge all the AI success stories that are typically powered by data centers and infrastructure.
“It’s natural for people to be very fearful of not knowing because of the uncertainty,” said Henderson. “But there are so many cool success AI stories.”
Henderson described successful AI customer use cases that boost businesses and livelihoods, as well as personal stories of how AI helps ordinary people.
“Someone on my team leveraged AI to build a bot for helping with her mom’s Alzheimer’s in the middle of the night. So she plugged in to the right data sources, so when her mom has an episode at 3 a.m. in the morning and doctors aren’t available, that she can go to AI and ask questions like, ‘How should I handle this? What’s normal? What isn’t normal?’” Henderson said.
“And we need people like me in these roles to tell more of those stories,” the CEO said. “And unfortunately, I often think negativity gets more clicks and views.”
Amazon Has Invested Over $276 Billion In Data Centers
Amazon said it has invested $276 billion in data centers between 2011 and 2025, not including the billions spent in 2026.
The company currently has large projects or expansions in the works in many U.S. states including Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Over the past three years, Garman said Amazon has contributed more than $1 billion to U.S. communities in which Amazon has a meaningful data center presence.
AWS says it will continue to invest in the communities by spending money on education, job training, energy affordability, water and energy preservation and other local priorities in parts of the U.S. where it has data centers.
AWS also committed to being water-positive across its data centers by 2030 by returning more water to communities than it uses. The company said it was already 75 percent of the way toward its goal.
“AI will power the next generation of businesses, hospitals, schools and other critical public services, as well as critical defense systems, intelligence analysis, cyber defense and satellite operations—and new kinds of skilled jobs will be created to help make it all possible,” AWS’ CEO said.
“This is just the start and we’re going to keep at it—doing our part to build responsibly and with the communities with whom we partner,” Garman said.
