New Albany City Council has approved a resolution that allows Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, to move forward with plans for new investment in New Albany. AWS is planning to invest $3.5 billion by 2030 to establish new data centers in the area. New Albany is the first community confirmed as part of AWS’s planned investment of $7.8 billion to expand data center operations in the region, which was announced by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted in June.
The new data centers will support computer servers, networking equipment and the AWS technology that helps people connect to friends and family, work remotely, shop online, and stream movies, TV shows, music, and video games. The increased tax revenue from the expansion will support schools, essential services such as first responders, and infrastructure investments such as parks and roads.
“AWS has been a strong corporate citizen in Central Ohio since arriving here almost a decade ago and has been a major catalyst in the growth of the Silicon Heartland,” said New Albany Mayor Sloan Spalding. “Our community stands poised to support AWS in addressing the global surge in cloud computing needs. New Albany is dedicated to fostering economic growth and creating a business-friendly environment for the benefit of our citizens and broader community. Today’s announcement is a testament to this vision and a tribute to the hard work of our economic development team and community partners.”
“We are proud to reinforce our long-term commitment to the State of Ohio with plans to invest an additional $3.5 billion in New Albany by 2030,” said Roger Wehner, Director of Economic Development, AWS. “Since 2015, AWS has invested more than $6.3 billion in Ohio while supporting thousands of local jobs. Our newest investment in New Albany builds on our rich partnership with the community and the state, and our ongoing investment will help continue to foster innovation, advance the next generation of local technology leaders, and expand on the tremendous partnerships we have across The Buckeye State.”
AWS’s data center projects in Central Ohio represent the second-largest private sector corporate investment in Ohio’s history. The new investment plays an important role in supporting economic growth in the technology sector and bringing significant revenue growth to local businesses.
In 2016, AWS launched its first data centers in Ohio and currently operates data center campuses in Franklin and Licking counties. To date, AWS’s investments and operations have generated more than $2.2 billion in economic benefit for Ohio, and supported more than 3,500 local jobs on an average annual basis. In 2022, AWS directly employed nearly 1,000 Ohioans across the state.
