Amazon Expands Data & Drone Footprint
Amazon is making major infrastructure moves, announcing a record €33.7 billion investment in Spain to expand its cloud and AI capabilities. Closer to home, its data center unit acquired George Washington University's Virginia campus, and it's rolling out Prime Air drone delivery in the Chicago suburbs.
The massive investment in Spain's Aragón region adds €18 billion to a €15.7 billion commitment announced in 2024. This expansion is projected to contribute €31.7 billion to the country's GDP and support an estimated 29,900 full-time equivalent jobs annually through 2035. The Spanish investment, announced by Amazon's chief global affairs and legal officer David Zapolsky at MWC26 in Barcelona, will fund new supply chain facilities. These include a server manufacturing plant and a dedicated repair facility for AI and machine learning servers, bolstering the AWS Europe (Spain) Region that launched in November 2022. In Virginia, the buyer of the 120-acre George Washington University campus was specifically Amazon Data Services, paying $427 million. The deal allows GWU to continue operating its nursing school and research labs on the campus for up to five years as it plans the relocation. This purchase is a component of Amazon's broader plan to invest $35 billion in Virginia by 2040, reinforcing the area's status as a critical data center hub. The university decided to
