Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced plans to invest an additional SGD 12 billion ($8.87 billion) into its existing cloud infrastructure in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to meet growing customer demand for cloud technology and services in the country.

AWS said in a statement on Tuesday that it has invested SGD 11.5 billion ($8.5 billion) in the AWS Asia Pacific (Singapore) Region through 2023 and with the new investment, AWS’s total planned investment into its existing cloud infrastructure is set to double to more than SGD 23 billion ($16.99 billion) by 2028.

According to a new AWS Economic Impact Study (EIS), this new planned investment in addition to previous investment commitments is estimated to contribute SGD 23.7 billion ($17.51 billion) to Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2028, and support an estimated average of 12,300 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in local Singapore businesses each year.

These positions, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and other jobs within the country’s broader economy, are part of the AWS data center supply chain in Singapore.

“AWS has been deeply committed to helping Singapore grow its economy, workforce, and digital prowess with cloud and advanced technologies since it launched its first Asia Pacific infrastructure Region here over a decade ago,” said Priscilla Chong, Country Manager, Singapore, AWS.

“AWS is doubling down on its cloud infrastructure investments in Singapore from 2024 to 2028 to support customer demand, and help reinforce Singapore’s status as an attractive regional innovation launchpad, and a global leader in digital competitiveness,

“This investment will create a ripple effect across Singapore by increasing economic growth and cloud adoption. It also brings additional contributions to the local economy by AWS, such as upskilling the local digital workforce, developing renewable energy projects, and creating a positive impact in the communities where AWS operates,” she added.

According to the statement, AWS will also support Singapore’s Smart Nation and National AI Strategy 2.0 (NAIS 2.0) goals with a new flagship artificial intelligence (AI) program, AWS AI Spring for Singapore.

This is a multifaceted collaboration with the Singapore government, public sector organizations, and enterprises to help accelerate the adoption of AI and generative AI in Singapore.

There are six strategic pillars in this comprehensive AI program, which is aligned with Singapore’s SGD 1 billion ($740,000) investment in NAIS 2.0 to further catalyze AI activities, and aims to drive benefits to AWS’s customers, partners, and community.

These include AI Spring Public Sector to collaborate on driving AI initiatives within the Singapore government and government agencies to benefit industries and citizens; AI Spring Workforce, a series of AI skilling and professional certification programs; AI Spring Enterprise to drive AI
adoption in local enterprises; AI Spring Startups to nurture core AI startups in Singapore; AI Spring Communities to contribute to community development with AI; and AI Spring Research and Development (R&D) to drive R&D for and with AI.

“With AWS AI Spring, we are eager to embark on this collaborative AI journey with the Government and customers to unlock the potential of AI, and accelerate Singapore’s Smart Nation vision and goal to become a beacon in the international AI field,” said Elsie Tan, Country Manager, Worldwide Public Sector, Singapore, AWS.

“By leveraging AWS’s broadest and deepest set of artificial intelligence and machine learning services, cloud infrastructure, and network, AWS will empower local organizations and students with technology and skills to tackle unique challenges, unlock new opportunities, delight customers, and scale in a secure, resilient, and sustainable manner,” she added.

Under AI Spring Public Sector, AWS will work closely with Singapore government agencies to enable and accelerate AI adoption within the public sector and wider industries.

AWS has also on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore’s HealthTech agency, Synapxe, to collaborate on a data and AI application that will enable healthcare providers to utilize data analytics and AI across healthcare systems.

As part of AI Spring Enterprise, AWS has also on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) with the Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA), to leverage Amazon Bedrock, Amazon SageMaker, and Amazon Q to develop an AI adoption program for local enterprises to identify and scale AI for the most impactful use cases across their businesses.

This MoI is a part of IMDA’s GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative to help digitally mature local companies innovate, develop, and deploy their own customized generative AI digital solutions.

Through AI Spring Workforce, AWS will upskill Singapore’s workforce by offering its latest and most robust skilling and professional certification programs in cloud and AI.

As part of this commitment, and to help advance the Singapore Government’s goal to triple the pool of AI practitioners to 15,000 over five years, AWS will collaborate with Institutes of Higher Learnings (IHLs) like universities and polytechnics, and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) on AI learning, with an aim to train 5,000 individuals across these learning institutions on AI skills yearly over three years, from 2024-2026.

AWS will also leverage its generative AI services to empower teachers and students in IHLs, facilitating their learning, exploration, and experimentation with the technology.

AWS has also on Tuesday signed an MoU with ITE to incorporate AI education into ITE’s curriculum.

Since 2017, AWS has trained more than 400,000 individuals in Singapore in cloud skills.

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