Amazon Launches AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region, Boosting Local Innovation and Economic Growth
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), has officially launched the AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region, marking a significant milestone in the company’s commitment to supporting New Zealand’s digital transformation. This new region will empower businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and nonprofits to run their applications and store data securely within New Zealand while delivering faster, lower-latency services to end users. With this launch, AWS is also investing heavily in the country’s economy, workforce, and sustainability initiatives.
The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region consists of three Availability Zones at launch, bringing AWS’s global footprint to 120 Availability Zones across 38 regions. Each Availability Zone is designed with independent power, cooling, and physical security, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance for customers who run critical applications. These zones are strategically located to support business continuity while maintaining ultra-low latency for performance-critical workloads.
A Strategic Investment in New Zealand’s Future
Amazon plans to invest more than NZ$7.5 billion in New Zealand over the coming years to construct, operate, and maintain its data centers. This investment is expected to add approximately NZ$10.8 billion to New Zealand’s GDP and support an average of over 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs annually, including roles in facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and other sectors.
“This investment in digital infrastructure and Amazon’s commitment to digital skills can accelerate New Zealand technology businesses and help New Zealanders move into highly skilled, secure, and well-paid technology jobs,” said Graeme Muller, CEO of NZTech. “These opportunities exist not just in tech companies but across industries such as agriculture, finance, retail, professional services, and government.”
The launch aligns with AWS’s broader mission to foster innovation and position New Zealand as a technology hub in the Asia Pacific region. By providing access to advanced cloud technologies—including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), analytics, and generative AI—AWS aims to enable organizations of all sizes to innovate faster, reduce costs, and achieve greater scalability.
Meeting Data Residency Requirements and Enhancing Performance
One of the key benefits of the new region is its ability to meet local data residency preferences and regulatory requirements. Customers can now securely store their content in New Zealand, ensuring compliance with national policies and enhancing trust among users. Additionally, the proximity of AWS infrastructure to end users in New Zealand ensures even lower latency, enabling businesses to deliver seamless experiences for their customers.
Active AWS customers in New Zealand already leveraging these capabilities include prominent organizations such as AMP New Zealand, Kiwibank, Ministry of Transport, New Zealand Post, One New Zealand, TVNZ, University of Auckland, Wellington City Council, and Xero. These entities span various industries, from financial services and retail to education and government, showcasing the versatility of AWS solutions.
Local AWS partners, including Accenture, Arcanum, CustomD, CyberCX, Datacom, and Deloitte, are also playing a crucial role in helping organizations migrate to the cloud and optimize their operations.
Upskilling New Zealand’s Workforce
To support the growing adoption of cloud technologies, AWS is committed to upskilling New Zealand’s workforce. Through programs like AWS Academy, AWS Educate, and AWS Skill Builder, Amazon is training students, developers, technical professionals, and non-technical workers in cloud-related skills. As part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the New Zealand government, AWS has pledged to train 100,000 individuals in cloud skills—an initiative that has already reached over 50,000 people.
By hiring and developing local personnel to operate and maintain the new AWS Region, Amazon is further contributing to the development of New Zealand’s tech talent pool. This effort not only addresses the demand for skilled professionals but also helps bridge the gap between traditional industries and emerging digital opportunities.
Sustainability and Renewable Energy Commitments
Amazon remains steadfast in its commitment to sustainability and achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040 as part of The Climate Pledge, which it co-founded in 2019. The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region underscores this pledge by being powered entirely by renewable energy from day one.
A long-term partnership with Mercury NZ, an AWS customer, supports the development of the Turitea South wind farm, advancing New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity. This collaboration demonstrates how digitalization and decarbonization can go hand in hand, fostering a sustainable future for the country.
According to a report commissioned by AWS and conducted by Accenture, AWS infrastructure is up to 4.1 times more energy-efficient than traditional on-premises setups. When workloads are optimized on AWS, the associated carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 99%, highlighting the environmental benefits of migrating to the cloud.
Expanding AWS’s Global Infrastructure
The launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region builds on Amazon’s previous investments in the country. Key milestones include:
- 2016: Enhanced connectivity through diverse, high-capacity subsea cable connections.
- 2020: Launched two Amazon CloudFront edge locations in Auckland to improve content delivery speeds.
- 2023: Established an AWS Direct Connect location in Auckland for private connectivity and expanded infrastructure with an AWS Local Zones location to serve applications requiring single-digit millisecond latency.
Looking ahead, AWS has plans for 10 more Availability Zones and three additional regions in Chile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
Driving Innovation Across Industries
The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region provides customers with unparalleled access to AWS’s broadest and deepest portfolio of cloud services. From compute and storage to AI, ML, and networking, organizations can leverage cutting-edge technologies to drive innovation and efficiency.
For startups, enterprises, governments, and nonprofits alike, this launch represents an opportunity to harness the power of the world’s leading cloud provider. By reducing reliance on legacy systems and embracing cloud-native architectures, businesses can unlock new possibilities, reduce operational costs, and accelerate their digital transformation journeys.
In summary, the arrival of the AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region is set to revolutionize the way organizations operate in New Zealand. With its focus on data sovereignty, performance optimization, workforce development, and sustainability, AWS is not only empowering local businesses but also contributing to the nation’s economic growth and technological advancement. As New Zealand continues to embrace the digital age, AWS stands ready to support its journey toward becoming a leader in the global tech landscape.
About Amazon Web Services
Since 2006, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any workload, and it now has more than 240 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, media, and application development, deployment, and management from 120 Availability Zones within 38 geographic regions, with announced plans for 10 more Availability Zones and three more AWS Regions in Chile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
