United States: Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced an investment of up to $50 billion to build advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing infrastructure for U.S. federal agencies. The move represents one of the largest technology commitments ever made to the American public sector and underscores the growing demand for secure, high-performance computing across government operations.
AWS to Build AI Infrastructure Across Classified Regions
Amazon confirmed the initiative on November 24, outlining plans to deploy 1.3 gigawatts of new computing power across its classified cloud environments—AWS Top Secret, AWS Secret, and AWS GovCloud (US). These cloud regions support all federal classification levels and are used by national security, intelligence, defense, and civilian agencies.
The expansion will include construction of new data centers beginning in 2026. These facilities will integrate custom AWS Trainium chips, Nvidia GPUs, and Anthropic Claude models, enabling agencies to run large-scale simulations, autonomous experimental workflows, and secure analytics on sensitive datasets.
AWS CEO Matt Garman noted that the project aims to eliminate “technology barriers that have held government back,” adding that mission-critical operations increasingly rely on scalable, secure AI systems. The phased deployment of the new infrastructure is expected to begin shortly after ground is broken.
According to Amazon, the investment will significantly boost computing availability for federal workloads and help agencies modernize digital operations involving classified or high-security environments.
The expansion aligns with multiple federal cloud and cybersecurity requirements, including FedRAMP, FISMA, and the Department of Defense Impact Level 6 (DoD IL6) standards, which regulate the handling of classified national security information. AWS GovCloud and its classified regions are already certified for these categories, and the new systems will extend compliance to AI-centric workloads.
The investment must also meet obligations established under Executive Order 14110, issued in October 2023, which directs federal agencies to implement comprehensive governance over AI use. The order includes mandates for risk assessments, transparency procedures, and oversight of AI in national missions. AWS has stated that the expanded infrastructure will adhere to the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, which guides federal agencies on responsible and auditable AI adoption.
Legal analysts observe that the increased scale of AI deployment in government programs raises additional requirements related to cybersecurity, supply-chain protection, model testing, and cross-agency coordination. The use of custom AI chips and proprietary models will also fall under scrutiny for compliance with federal technical-security criteria.
Industry-Wide Momentum: Tech Giants Rally Behind Public-Sector AI
Amazon’s announcement follows a series of major commitments by other leading technology firms. Microsoft, Alphabet, and OpenAI have each expanded their public-sector partnerships and cloud capacity to support federal AI adoption.
Microsoft has increased investments in its Azure Government Secret and Azure Government Top Secret regions, while Alphabet is enlarging its Google Cloud for Government offerings, including services for classified workloads. OpenAI is working with multiple agencies to adapt secure versions of its GPT-series models for government use.
Together, these industry moves reflect a broader shift toward public-private collaboration in national AI infrastructure. Rising demand for high-performance computing, cybersecurity modernization, and advanced scientific research has prompted federal agencies to seek expanded cloud-native AI capabilities.
Federal spending patterns indicate accelerated adoption. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) projects that government spending on cloud and AI technologies will exceed $150 billion by 2027, with a significant portion dedicated to classified and mission-critical systems. The AWS investment is positioned as a major component of that broader technological transformation.
