Amazon Web Services (AWS) is planning to invest up to $50 billion in purpose-built AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure for the US government.
The data center build, set to start next year, will see an extra 1.3 gigawatts of compute capacity added across AWS Top Secret, AWS Secret, and AWS GovCloud (US) regions across all classification levels: Unclassified, Secret and Top Secret.
Federal agencies will gain expanded access to AWS's AI services, including Amazon SageMaker AI for model training and customization, Amazon Bedrock for model and agent deployment, Amazon Nova, Anthropic Claude, and leading open weight foundation models, with the use of AWS Trainium AI chips as well as Nvidia AI infrastructure.
"Our investment in purpose-built government AI and cloud infrastructure will fundamentally transform how federal agencies leverage supercomputing,” said AWS CEO Matt Garman.
“We're giving agencies expanded access to advanced AI capabilities that will enable them to accelerate critical missions from cybersecurity to drug discovery. This investment removes the technology barriers that have held government back and further positions America to lead in the AI era."
The investment, the company said, will speed up discovery and decision-making across applications ranging from national security to scientific research and innovation, including autonomous systems development, cybersecurity, energy innovation, and healthcare research.
AWS said the move is aimed at supporting the priorities laid out in the US government's recently-published AI Action Plan, which promotes the development of AI infrastructure, as well as other advanced computing initiatives deployed on secure, US-based AI and cloud infrastructure.
AWS boasts deep government ties
The hyperscaler is already a major cloud provider to the US government, serving more than 11,000 government agencies including US intelligence communities, the Department of Defense, federal agencies and defense industrial companies.
In 2011, it became the first cloud provider to build infrastructure specifically for government security and compliance requirements with the launch of AWS GovCloud (US-West).
Since then, it's launched AWS Top Secret-East, the first air-gapped commercial cloud accredited to support classified workloads; AWS Secret Region, making it the first cloud provider accredited across all US government data classifications; and AWS GovCloud (US-East), AWS Top Secret-West, and AWS Secret-West regions.
"Federal customers and the supporting industrial base share a vision of AI and HPC convergence. This includes orchestrating expert AI models, agents, and natural language interfaces to enable researchers and engineers to explore complex problems through conversational interaction," said Amazon.
"This represents a fundamental shift from traditional HPC workflows to AI-accelerated discovery, where scientists can specify challenges and receive AI-driven recommendations backed by high-fidelity simulations and analysis."
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