“AWS is now controlling essentially every layer underneath AI models, including data centers and power,” says Randall Hunt, CTO at AWS Premier Partner Caylent.
Amazon’s $220 billion CapEx spending plan in 2026 is coming together as the cloud giant unveils plans to invest $6 billion to build a third data center campus in Louisiana as global demand for AI infrastructure increases.
Seattle-based AWS’ new $6 billion data center is on top of the $12 billion the company announced in February inside the state, making AWS’ total data center investment in Louisiana approximately $18 billion.
“I am proud to share that Amazon is increasing its planned investment in Northwest Louisiana to $18 billion across our three planned data center campuses,” said Keith Klein, director of data center supply solutions at AWS, on LinkedIn.
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The move comes as America’s data center capacity is expected to double in the next three years driven by hyperscalers like AWS and Google.
There are currently more than 700 U.S.-based data center facilities that are in the pipeline that will support 45 gigawatts of new capacity over the next few years, according to data from Synergy Research Group.
AWS’ new data center campus is in partnership with Denver-based global data center developer and operator Stack Infrastructure.
‘AWS Is Now Controlling’ Almost Every Layer Of AI
Last month, Amazon increased its CapEx spending plan in 2026 from $200 billion to $220 billion with a focus on AI infrastructure like data centers.
Randall Hunt, CTO at AWS Premier Partner Caylent, said AWS is pouring hundreds of billions into providing everything needed in the AI era, including a home for AI models.
“AWS is now controlling essentially every layer underneath AI models, including data centers and power,” said Hunt.
He said AWS’ own Trainium and Graviton chips, SageMaker and Bedrock models, and AgentCore for running agents is a major win for AWS and channel partners.
“That’s a different competitive position than a company that’s good at one layer and reselling the rest,” said Hunt.
Caylent sees Amazon creating new AI compute capacity when demand is at an all-time high with no signs of slowing down in 2027 and beyond.
“Most AI capacity right now is contracted for at least five,” he said. “AWS is spending significantly for a return curve that’s very favorable.”
AWS’ New Louisiana Data Center Details
AWS new $6 billion data center campus will be in Shreveport, northwest Louisiana.
The new campus will be located at Resilient Technology Park, a 313-acre industrial park.
“This project goes beyond infrastructure. It is about creating opportunity and being a good neighbor,” Klein said. “We expect to bring up to 750 full-time jobs once our three campuses are fully built out and plan to invest up to $400 million in public water infrastructure to support all three campuses.”
The company has yet to reveal the campus’ expected IT and power capacity.
When completed, the three planned campuses are also expected to support 2,500 additional positions in the broader community.
AWS generated $42.2 billion in total revenue during the second quarter of 2026, elevating Amazon’s cloud unit to a record $169 billion annual run rate.
