AWS to invest an additional SG$12 billion in Singapore by 2028, and announces flagship AI programme

• Newly released AWS economic impact study estimates AWS’s total investment in cloud infrastructure will double by 2028 and contribute S$23.7 billion to Singapore’s GDP 
• AWS Singapore also launched flagship AI programme, AWS AI Spring, to enable the adoption of artificial intelligence across the local economy, and aims to train 5,000 individuals on AI skills yearly from 2024-2026

At the 10th AWS ASEAN Summit in Singapore today, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to invest an additional S$12 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 has invested S$11.5 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 S$23 billion by 2028. Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, Mr Tan Kiat How, delivered a keynote speech as Guest of Honour on the Singapore Government's commitment to strengthen partnerships with organisations like AWS to ride the next wave of digitalisation, and take the Digital Economy from 1.0 to 2.0.

According to a new AWS Economic Impact Study (EIS), this new planned investment in addition to previous investment commitments is estimated to contribute S$23.7 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 centre supply chain in Singapore.

Thousands of active Singapore customers, such as Grab, Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore, Singlife, and Synapxe, use the AWS Asia Pacific (Singapore) Region to digitally transform.

AWS AI Spring Singapore - Contributing to Singapore’s National AI Strategy 2.0

Generative AI is poised to be the most transformational technology of our time. With over 25 years of experience in AI, AWS is working with Singapore public organisations to develop innovative, industry-first solutions powered by AI and generative AI, including AI Singapore’s SEA-LION, GovTech Singapore’s Analytics.gov, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore’s Maritime AI-ML Digital Hub, National Library Board’s StoryGen, and Synapxe’s national healthcare data and AI application.

AWS will support Singapore’s Smart Nation and National AI Strategy 2.0 (NAIS 2.0) goals with a new flagship AI programme, AWS AI Spring for Singapore. This is a multifaceted collaboration with the Singapore Government, public sector organisations, and enterprises to help accelerate the adoption of AI and generative AI in Singapore.

There are six strategic pillars in this comprehensive AI programme, which is aligned with Singapore’s S$1 billion investment in NAIS 2.0 to further catalyse AI activities, and aims to drive benefits to AWS’s customers, partners, and community: 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 programmes; 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.

Uplifting Public Sector, Enterprises, and Talent in Singapore

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 today 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 utilise data analytics and AI across healthcare systems.

As part of AI Spring Enterprise, AWS today 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 programme 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 customised generative AI digital solutions.

According to a report by Access Partnership commissioned by AWS, “Accelerating AI Skills: Preparing the Asia-Pacific Workforce for Jobs of the Future,” hiring AI-skilled talent is a priority for eight in 10 Singapore employers, but 74% struggle to find the AI talent they need, highlighting a looming AI skills gap in the country. AWS is helping organisations upskill their employees to be ready for a future powered by generative AI.

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