Amazon invests 6 billion in Switzerland

Amazon’s subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest around CHF 5.9 billion in Switzerland by 2036. The US tech giant is investing the money in the development of the so-called Swiss “infrastructure zone”, which was launched on November 9.

Amazon estimates that the economic impact of this on Swiss gross domestic product will be around CHF 16.3 billion over the next 15 years. Among other things, this means that on average more than 2,500 full-time jobs will be provided annually with external providers: 400 in the construction, maintenance and operation of data centers, including suppliers in the telecommunications, power generation or maintenance sectors.

There are 500 more jobs in the AWS supply chain, predominantly in the service sector, and another 1,600 jobs in the wider Swiss economy through private consumption of employees benefiting from AWS investment. A projection that Amazon did not specify in the Blick request.

What exactly is unlocked?

“Infrastructure region Switzerland” means that AWS now operates a physical data center cluster in that country. This includes three “availability zones” with redundant power supply, networking and connectivity. This gives developers, startups and organizations, as well as government, education, and nonprofits more choice and flexibility when using AWS cloud technologies.

They now also have the option to store their data locally in Switzerland. This accommodates AWS customers who are required to store certain data in Switzerland due to legal requirements.

At the same time, customers benefit from lower latency across the country. In other words: data transfer rate and fault tolerance have been improved. This will do media and streaming services, home tech, connected cars and much more. In simple terms, it can be said that the closer the computing power is to the consumer, the lower the latency.

Where is this located?

For security reasons, Amazon does not publish locations. According to industry magazine “Inside IT”, AWS is said to have leased data center operators Green, Vantage and Interxion at locations Lupfig AG, Winterthur and Glattbrugg ZH.

The investment of approximately six billion francs is related to the import of special equipment and software, the construction of data centers, operating costs and the purchase of goods and services from regional companies.

This is not the first investment in Switzerland: AWS has been operating in Zurich since 2016 and has since opened offices in Geneva and Bern. Zurich is also a location for AWS Direct Connect since 2017 and AWS Edge since 2019, making it one of the top Amazon locations in Europe.

Large companies in the AWS cloud

Cloud technology is a billion dollar business. In 2021, Amazon generated $63 billion in sales with this alone.

According to Amazon, more than 10,000 customers in Switzerland already use AWS cloud services. Swiss AWS customers include Ringier, Swisscom, Die Post, Helvetia Group, Swiss Re, Clariant, Richemont, Syngenta, Zurich, Kudelski Group, OC Oerlikon, and ETH Zurich. (rae)