Amazon Web Services (AWS) is set to invest £1.8 billion into building out its UK data centre presence over the next two years.

The BigTech giant said this will bring AWS’s total investment in the UK to more than double what it is today, benefitting existing customers as well as strengthening the UK’s digital infrastructure.

Amazon divides its data centre clusters into ‘regions’ and launched its first AWS London Region in December 2016.

In addition, Amazon cited research from the strategy consultancy Public First which claimed that if cloud prevalence in the North East was similar to London, this would benefit the local economy by around £1.4 billion.

The news comes as Amazon is reportedly facing pressure from investors over tax transparency.

In March, a report from the Financial Times said that 24 institutional investors want to have a better understanding about how much tax the e-commerce giant pays globally.


“We are proud of the contributions we are making to the UK economy,” said Darren Hardman, vice president and general manager at AWS UK and Ireland. “Looking ahead, we know that the UK remains full of opportunity and we continue to be excited by the potential to continue supporting our customers, partners and citizens across the UK over the years to come.”

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