In 2021, AWS said it had invested $35 billion in data centers in northern Virginia between 2011 and 2020, creating 3,500 full-time jobs there.
The investment still needs to be approved by the local government, but lawmakers from both political parties have already expressed their support for the investment. Virginia is now preparing a new incentive program for huge data centers, and Amazon will be eligible for an incentive from that program. It will also receive a subsidy of USD 140 million.
Amazon announced in 2018 that northern Virginia would be home to its second headquarters, which could eventually have more than 2,000 employees. In April, the company said it had 5,000 employees in the area so far.
Amazon to cut 18,000 jobs
Economic
However, data centers have become a politically sensitive issue, especially in northern Virginia, where such construction is increasingly common and local residents express concerns about noise and environmental impact. Data centers house computer servers and hardware that are necessary to use the Internet. However, they require powerful fans and extensive cooling capacities, which can cause noise. They also consume huge amounts of electricity.
Northern Virginia has been a technology hub since the dawn of the Internet. It now hosts more data centers than the next five largest US markets combined.
