Amazon announced plans on Tuesday, January 7, to invest $11 billion dollars into Georgia. The investment includes new data centers in Butts and Douglas Counties. The company also intends to create at least 550 high-skilled jobs.
This is a developing story. Updates will follow as they become available.
Amazon Data Center in Butts County
Amazon Web Services announced they will be building new generative AI data centers in Georgia. The locations, Butts and Douglas Counties, are located south and west of downtown Atlanta, respectively. The exact locations of each facility was not shared.
According to the company’s press release, “Generative AI is driving increased demand for advanced cloud infrastructure and compute power, and AWS’s investments will support the future of AI from data centers in Georgia. AWS data centers are flexible enough to efficiently run GPUs (graphics processing units) for traditional workloads or AI and machine learning models. This deployment of cutting-edge AI infrastructure will strengthen Georgia’s position as an innovation hub.“
Amazon’s announcement would be the largest corporate announcement in Georgia history, when considering both sites. It surpasses the $7.6 billion Hyundai vehicle plant near Savannah.
Butts County Leaders Express Support
“We are pleased and proud that Amazon Web Services, a world technology leader, has chosen to locate new data centers in Butts County,” said Russ Crumbley, chairman of the Butts County Board of Commissioners. “Their investment will be the most significant in Butts County history…The investment — which will enable significant infrastructure improvements throughout our community — will benefit the citizens of Butts County for decades to come. We appreciate the hard work by all board members, staff, and those of our fellow local government entities who have worked tirelessly to get this project to the announcement stage, and we look forward to future partnerships in the years to come.”
Data Centers and Atlanta
Atlanta has become one of the nation’s hottest markets for new data centers. According to CBRE, data center construction in Atlanta increased by 76% year-over-year from summer 2023 to summer 2024. Since then, several other proposals have emerged. On New Year’s Eve 2024, Coweta County notified the state about a 13-building project looking to build. It is worth an estimated $17 billion dollars. Here in Henry County, two proposals are being considered between McDonough and Hampton.
The number of data centers have a growing number of residents concerned about their utility usage. Georgia Power has said data centers could cause electricity needs to triple in the next ten years, Georgia Recorder reported in December. Some data centers also depend on water availability if they utilize water cooling for the computer equipment. Water and sewer service are handled by local authorities in each community.
Last year, Georgia lawmakers proposed a pause on tax incentives for data centers. The measure received a veto from Governor Kemp. State lawmakers return to Atlanta starting January 13 for their annual session. Data centers, and whether to slow down their construction, could very likely be on lawmakers’ minds again this year.
Featured image shows an Amazon data center. VPM News photo.
