SAN JOSE, Dec 10 — United States (US) online retail giant Amazon has announced that it plans to invest more than US$35 billion (RM144.1 billion) in India by 2030 to advance artificial intelligence (AI) innovation.
The German Press Agency (dpa) reported that the company, which has so far invested US$40 billion (RM164.7 billion) in India, expects to focus on business expansion as well as three strategic pillars, which include AI-driven digitisation, export growth, and job creation.
The move on Wednesday comes after Amazon announced plans in late November to invest up to US$50 billion (RM205.9 billion) to expand AI and high-performance computing capacity for US government clients through Amazon Web Services.
At the sixth edition of the Amazon Smbhav Summit in New Delhi, Amazon said the latest Indian investment will boost cumulative exports to US$80 billion (RM329.4 billion) and deliver AI benefits to 15 million small businesses.
It added that Amazon Web Services is helping organisations across India's public and private sectors leverage its agentic AI capabilities.
By 2030, the tech giant plans to create an additional one million direct, indirect, induced, and seasonal jobs through business expansion and the growth of its fulfilment and delivery network. By that same year, Amazon expects to support a total of 3.8 million such jobs.
The Economic Impact Report by Keystone Strategy revealed Amazon as the largest foreign investor and enabler of e-commerce exports in India, and among the top job creators in the country.
The company recently said that Amazon India AI initiatives would benefit 15 million small businesses and provide an AI literacy programme for four million government school students by 2030.
It noted that the investment would bring AI benefits to students, entrepreneurs and customers across India, with a view to supporting the government's "AI for All" vision.
Its US$40 billion investment in India so far, including compensation to employees and infrastructure development, has digitised 12 million small businesses and enabled US$20 billion (RM82.36 billion) in exports.
The investment has been used to build physical and digital infrastructure, including fulfilment centres, transportation networks, data centres, digital payments infrastructure, and technology development.
Amazon has also supported approximately 2.8 million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs across industries in India in 2024.
The company's senior vice president for emerging markets Amit Agarwal said: "We have invested at scale in growing the physical and digital infrastructure for small businesses in India, creating millions of jobs, and taking Made-in-India global."
"Looking ahead, we are excited to continue being a catalyst for India's growth, as we democratise access to AI for millions of Indians and quadruple cumulative e-commerce exports to US$80 billion by 2030," he concluded.
