Amazon pours billions of dollars into building an AI data center in Missouri! Creating over 400 job openings, with a focus on “green water cooling” for sustainable operations

To meet the future demand for cloud computing and AI computing power, tech giant Amazon today (the 15th) announced through an official statement that it will invest billions of dollars in Montgomery County, Missouri, in the United States to build a brand-new, modern data center campus. The project is expected to create more than 400 full-time job positions locally, and will commit more than $7 million to community infrastructure upgrades such as roads, water supply, and emergency medical services.
(Background recap: Bill Ackman warns: the market’s blind pursuit of AI is “repeating the 2000 Internet bubble,” with high-quality assets like Microsoft, Amazon, and others being abandoned)
(Additional background: Trump Q1 stock-buying exposed》$750 million spree snapping up NVIDIA and Apple, selling off Microsoft, Amazon, Meta)

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• Deep Local Roots: $7 Million Reinvestment and Infrastructure Upgrades
• Pushing Sustainability to the Limit: 0.1% Water Withdrawal and Green Energy Commitments
• Partnering with Agricultural Technology to Aim for Water Positivity by 2030

As global enterprises experience exponential growth in demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data processing, expanding the underlying infrastructure has become a core strategy for technology giants. On June 15, 2026, Amazon officially announced that it will invest billions of dollars in Montgomery County, Missouri to construct a world-class data center campus.

Since 2010, Amazon has contributed more than $9 billion to Missouri’s GDP and has directly employed more than 10,000 local residents. This new construction plan is intended not only to strengthen the volume of cloud computing power behind daily services—such as remote work, streaming media, and financial transactions—but also to create more than 400 full-time data center jobs with attractive salaries and comprehensive benefits (including network specialists, project engineers, etc.), as well as thousands of positions during the construction phase, bringing potential new tax revenue totaling hundreds of millions of dollars to the local area.

Deep Local Roots: $7 Million Reinvestment and Infrastructure Upgrades

To achieve shared prosperity with the local community, Amazon announced that it will earmark more than $7 million in project funds, to be used directly for community development in Montgomery County. In terms of infrastructure, in addition to upgrading multiple roads, Amazon will fund the construction of a new bridge on Ellis Road that crosses over the railway, completely addressing the long-standing transportation pain point for local residents caused by trains stopping at level crossings. At the same time, the company is also investing $3 million to strengthen public safety emergency dispatch services, and sponsoring more than $1 million to build a brand-new large-scale gathering space at the County Fairgrounds.

In education and innovation training, Amazon has established an initial community fund of $150,000 and, together with local school districts, introduced the “Amazon Think Big Program” STEM education initiative. Through $50,000 in teacher grants and hands-on experience, Amazon is actively cultivating local talent pipelines for future technology industries.

Pushing Sustainability to the Limit: 0.1% Water Withdrawal and Green Energy Commitments

Facing the criticism of large data centers as an “electricity monster” and a “water-consuming giant,” Amazon also demonstrated extremely high sustainability standards in this plan. In energy, Amazon has reached a cooperation agreement with local utility Ameren Missouri to ensure that the data center’s massive energy costs will be fully borne by Amazon, with absolutely no transfer of electricity cost pressure to ordinary residential users. Currently, Amazon’s carbon-neutral energy projects invested in Missouri can generate 138 MW of clean energy, enough to supply more than 28,000 households.

In the most critical aspect of water resource management, about 90% of the data center’s operating time will use “free air cooling” technology, activating traditional water-cooling systems only during the most extreme 7% of time when temperatures are at the highest extremes. The rainwater collection system equipped on-site is expected to supply 20% of its annual water demand and has a recycling capability of reusing water up to 6 times. Even under full-load operations, the amount of water extracted will be below 0.1% of the local aquifer’s annual recharge.

Partnering with Agricultural Technology to Aim for Water Positivity by 2030

More notably, Amazon is also investing in building the required modern water supply system and will donate it free of charge to the local first public water district after completion, further expanding the county’s water supply service coverage. In addition, Amazon announced a partnership with agricultural technology company Arable Labs. Using AWS cloud computing and IoT sensor technologies, the collaboration will optimize local farmland irrigation, with an expected annual saving of up to 100 million gallons of agricultural water for the local watershed (equivalent to 150 Olympic-standard swimming pools). This supports steady progress toward its global climate goal of achieving “Water positive” by 2030.

In response, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe gave high praise, stating that this investment not only brings tangible growth in infrastructure and new tax revenue, but also demonstrates strong confidence in the Missouri workforce and business environment. Amazon Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer David Zapolsky also concluded: “We listen to community needs and are committed to building long-term partnerships to ensure that communities become more prosperous and better because of Amazon’s presence.”