Today we announced we have planned investments of €10 billion in Germany to drive innovation and support the expansion of our logistics network and cloud infrastructure across the country. We're also creating 4,000 new jobs this year, at three new fulfilment centres: one in Horn-Bad Meinberg (North Rhine-Westphalia), opening in late summer 2024, one in Erfurt (Thuringia), which opened in May 2024, and one in Großenkneten, which opened in August 2023. The new jobs mean that, by the end of this year, we will have more than 40,000 permanent employees in Germany, providing roles of all kinds, at all levels, and in more than 100 German cities and municipalities across our business.
Today’s announcement means we have confirmed planned investments in Germany totaling €17.8 billion, following our €7.8 billion AWS European Sovereign Cloud investment announced last month. The AWS European Sovereign Cloud is a new, independent cloud for Europe, and its first AWS Region will launch in the State of Brandenburg by the end of 2025.
Rocco Bräuniger, Amazon Germany Country Manager, said: “Amazon came to Germany over 25 years ago, and we continue to invest in the country. With our teams continually focused on innovation, we’re helping German customers transform the way they work, live, connect and thrive. Our teams work hand-in-hand with state-of-the-art technologies to deliver for small businesses and customers, while AWS enables organisations of all sizes in Germany to grow their businesses and innovate using the cloud. And with that comes a positive impact for the country – and especially the communities where we operate – with a broad range of investments and jobs ranging from research and development to logistics and customer service.”
Investing in research and logistics in Germany
Since 2010, we've invested more than €77 billion in Germany to help serve customers, create high quality jobs, and deliver a positive impact on the German economy by contributing an estimated €50 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP). Across four R&D sites in Aachen, Berlin, Dresden and Tübingen, teams work on products and services for AWS, Amazon Music, Fire TV, Alexa and fulfilment technologies. The research teams at our Development Centre in Berlin will benefit from the extension of labs to develop and enhance AI and robotics technologies.
Cloud infrastructure investment
As part of our investment in Germany, AWS plans to make a €8.8 billion investment by 2026, to continue to build, maintain, and operate its cloud infrastructure for the AWS Europe (Frankfurt) Region, which is based the in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main area since 2014. This investment will help meet growing customer demand for AWS technologies in Germany, including AI.
According to a new AWS economic impact study, AWS’s investment plan is estimated to contribute €15.4 billion to Germany’s GDP over this period, while supporting an average of 15,200 full-time jobs annually in the local supply chain.
Stefan Hoechbauer, Managing Director for Germany and Europe at AWS, said: “Germany is at the heart of innovation across Europe. AWS is more committed than ever to helping German customers lead and build new technologies and services using the wide variety of capabilities in the AWS Cloud, including generative AI. To address the growing demand for our services, we’re investing heavily in Germany’s digital infrastructure. This also includes our commitment to support digital skills and talent development programmes across Germany and to partner with local communities on joint initiatives with a lasting impact.”
To find out more about Amazon’s economic contribution in Germany, click here.