AWS pledges £1.8bn UK investment in digital infrastructure
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AWS pledges £1.8bn UK investment in digital infrastructure

Money funding investment.jpeg

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a £1.8 billion investment over the next two years to build and operate data centres in the UK.

The news comes as demand for digital infrastructure continues to rise as well as to bolster the country's infrastructure assets, doubling AWS' total investment in the UK.

As of 2018, AWS had three availability zones in its London Region, as well as various edge locations across the UK which are connected to the AWS region through the AWS network backbone. In addition, thousands of UK businesses are part of the AWS Partner Network, an international programme that helps to connect AWS suppliers with new customers.

“We are proud of the contributions we are making to the UK economy," said Darren Hardman, vice president and general manager of 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.”

At the same time, is also making investments in skills and training, and sustainability.

Specifically, the company will spend hundreds of millions of pounds to provide free cloud computing skills training for 29 million people by 2025, in more than 200 countries including the UK. It has also launched a number of learning and skills programmes in UK including AWS Educate, AWS Academy, and AWS re/Start.

Amazon is also creating 1,500 new apprenticeships across the UK in 2022, through more than 40 different schemes including software development, data analysis, and IT engineering.

The company recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK government; the One Government Value Agreement, to help improve digital skills across the civil service, and help Small and Medium Enterprises to take part in public sector contracts.

As part of this agreement, AWS established a new digital skills fund, which will train over 6,000 civil servants in cloud computing at no cost to the Government.

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