AWS is in talks with the Italian government about investing billions of euros to expand its data centers in Italy, as part of the tech giant’s plan to strengthen its European cloud services.
It is reported that specific details are still being coordinated. Reuters A report will be prepared and discussed focusing on the size and location of the investment. One source also mentioned that AWS may expand its existing Milan data center or build a new site from scratch.
Interestingly, AWS and the Italian government’s digital transformation department declined to comment on the matter. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy was also unable to issue a statement.
Last year, AWS launched its first cloud region in Italy and announced plans to invest €2 billion there over the next 10 years. The initiative has caught the local industry by surprise. Notable clients such as Ferrari and Assicurazioni Generali have already participated.
The recent announcement of investments in Italy follows AWS’s declaration of even more ambitious plans to invest €15.7 billion in Spanish data centers over the next 10 years. Of this, €2.5 billion was specifically allocated to Spain.
One source said Italy’s investment still amounts to billions of dollars, but may not reach the scale of Spain’s plans as no immediate announcement is expected.
But Italy isn’t the only European country on AWS’ radar. There are also plans to invest 7.8 billion euros in Germany by 2040. Let’s not forget the efforts to build infrastructure to provide cloud services to telecommunication customers, which require enormous resources.
Earlier this month, Telefonica Deutschland achieved a significant milestone when it announced plans to move one million customers to the AWS Cloud.
Last year, AWS also announced plans to store data on servers located within the European Union to protect the data privacy of customers in government and highly regulated industries.
The $270 billion cloud infrastructure market is rebounding as many large enterprise customers who halted their cloud spending last year are investing again, especially as interest in artificial intelligence grows, according to analysts and executives.
In fact, according to the report, AWS itself grew 17% in the first quarter of this year, exceeding Wall Street’s 15% growth estimates and hitting a $100 billion annual operating pace for the first time.
But tech titan AWS isn’t the only one focusing on Italy. Alphabet, on the other hand, signed a cloud deal with Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank, until 2020, investing €1 billion in two co-located cloud regions that Intesa relies on.
Not to be outdone, Microsoft announced last year that it would open its first cloud region in Italy as part of a $1.5 billion capital spending initiative that the company also unveiled in 2020.
So when we look at what’s happening in AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, it’s clear that two trends are occurring simultaneously. AI is certainly contributing to the growth of the cloud space, while overall cloud spending is also accelerating as the industry continues. Adopt advanced technologies and customers embrace new features.
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