Amazon has invested nearly $52 billion in data centers in Virginia since 2011, according to a new report from the company. The figure includes capital investments as well as operating expenses for the tech behemoth’s data centers in the commonwealth. (Data centers are facilities housing large-scale computers to process and store digital information. If you store your photos in the cloud, they’re in a data center.)
The $52 billion does not include an expected $35 billion in future investments through 2040, which the company announced in January.
“Our overall story began right here in Virginia, which was home of our first data center region, in 2006,” said Shannon Kellogg, the vice president for public policy in the Americas for Amazon Web Services, who led a panel discussion about the report at a company conference on Wednesday.
The company estimates Amazon’s current spending has spurred an $8.2 billion contribution to the commonwealth’s gross domestic product.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Margaret Barthel over at DCIST
