Amazon Unveils $20 Billion Data Center Investment in Pennsylvania to Boost AI and Cloud Infrastructure

Amazon announced a landmark plan on June 9 to invest at least $20 billion in Pennsylvania to expand its data center infrastructure, aiming to support the accelerating demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing technologies. The initiative marks the largest private sector investment in the state’s history and is expected to create over 1,250 high-skilled jobs.

Governor Josh Shapiro emphasized the economic impact of Amazon’s move, noting that Pennsylvania’s proactive engagement, including streamlined permitting and infrastructure planning, helped land the deal. He underscored that the investment would stimulate local economies, generate long-term tax revenue, and position the state as a leader in the emerging AI economy.

The announcement comes amid growing efforts by tech companies to co-locate energy-intensive data centers with power generation facilities, allowing them to bypass long interconnection queues and avoid costly grid upgrades. Increasingly, firms are turning to nuclear power for its stable, carbon-free output. In Pennsylvania, Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement last September with Constellation Energy to supply electricity to data centers in the mid-Atlantic region from the 835-megawatt Three Mile Island plant, which is set to restart after a five-year shutdown. An interconnection agreement to expand co-located load capacity at Talen Energy’s Susquehanna nuclear plant, which aimed to power an Amazon data center, was rejected by federal regulators last year.

The new data center campuses will host specialized infrastructure to power generative and autonomous AI applications, which Amazon Web Services says are crucial for driving innovation across industries. Roles created will range from network specialists and data center engineers to security analysts and engineering operations managers. Thousands of additional construction and supply chain jobs are also expected to result from the broader investment.

In tandem with the infrastructure expansion, Amazon will launch training and education initiatives in the local communities, offering programs such as data center technician training, fiber optic fusion splicing workshops, and STEM-focused learning opportunities for K-12 schools. These efforts aim to build a strong regional talent pipeline to support the data economy.

The company also introduced the Amazon Northeastern Pennsylvania Community Fund, seeding it with $250,000 to provide grants of up to $10,000. The fund will support projects related to STEM education, environmental sustainability, digital skills, cultural and heritage preservation, and community health and well-being.

Amazon currently operates 23 fulfillment and sortation centers and 20 last-mile delivery stations in Pennsylvania. Since 2010, the company has invested over $26 billion in the state and supported more than 27,000 direct jobs, in addition to generating an estimated $26 billion in GDP contributions. The new investment signals a deepening of Amazon’s economic footprint in the region.