Amazon To Invest $10 Billion In North Carolina

Amazon says it will invest $10 billion to expand its cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in North Carolina.

County commissioners unanimously approved an incentives package that would give Amazon annual cash grants for two decades. I Photo: Amazon

A new campus is planned for rural Richmond County (population: 41,990), about an hour’s drive east of Charlotte, and will create at least 500 jobs, including positions for engineers and security specialists, Andrew Nusca reported for Fortune Tech.

Governor Josh Stein said the investment was one of the state’s largest ever.

“Artificial intelligence is changing the way we work and innovate, and I am pleased that North Carolina will stay at the forefront of all that’s ahead as we continue to attract top technology companies like Amazon,” he added.

County commissioners unanimously approved an incentives package that would give Amazon annual cash grants for two decades, calculated based on property taxes levied on the site of the planned data center.

Earlier this year, Apple said it would boost its investment in the state and expand its existing 1 million sq. ft. data center in Catawba County, about an hour’s drive northwest of Charlotte, by almost 25%.

Microsoft is also building out infrastructure in Catawba County. The company, in 2022, announced plans to spend at least $1 billion on four data centers in the area, though it was reported earlier this year to be slowing construction on the site.