In short
Amazon is investing $10 billion in North Carolina to construct knowledge facilities supporting AI infrastructure, creating at the least 500 high-skilled jobs.
The corporate can also be reportedly creating humanoid robots for supply duties, testing them in a brand new “humanoid park” at its San Francisco workplace.
An knowledgeable informed Decrypt the size of Amazon’s funding highlights how rising infrastructure prices threat placing AI innovation solely within the arms of Massive Tech.
Amazon introduced on Wednesday that it’s committing $10 billion to construct new knowledge facilities in North Carolina as a part of its effort to develop synthetic intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.
The funding is anticipated to anchor new compute-intensive workloads and assist scale Amazon’s capability to assist companies constructing with AI, the corporate stated in a assertion.
“Amazon’s funding is among the many largest in state historical past and can deliver a whole lot of good-paying jobs and an financial increase to Richmond County,” North Carolina Governor Josh Stein stated.
The $10 billion funding is a part of Amazon’s push to compete with different tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Meta in constructing the infrastructure wanted to assist large-scale AI fashions.
The corporate stated the funds “will assist the way forward for AI from AWS knowledge facilities within the Tar Heel State,” creating at the least 500 high-skilled jobs within the course of.
As a part of the brand new buildout, Amazon will fund technician coaching packages at group faculties, STEM training in Okay-12 faculties, and profession pathways in fiber broadband infrastructure.
It additionally launched a $150,000 Richmond County Neighborhood Fund to assist native initiatives in workforce growth, sustainability, and public well being.
“The growth of AI infrastructure is constructive information for the business, nevertheless it highlights a key drawback of this business: value,” Leo Fan, co-founder of blockchain-based AI infrastructure agency Cysic, informed Decrypt.
“An funding of $10 billion demonstrates the excessive value of constructing, increasing, and sustaining AI infrastructure,” Fan stated. “This costs out smaller-scale builders or corporations that won’t have the funds to entry the infrastructure and {hardware} wanted to supply the required computing energy, disincentivising innovation.”
Fan stated the funding brings financial advantages however warned it may result in “the stronger focus of all revolutionary AI work within the arms of Massive Tech,” which he believes may stall broader innovation.
Amazon Builds ‘Humanoid Park’
The corporate is creating AI software program for humanoid robots that would ultimately deal with supply duties, in line with a report by The Data, citing an unnamed supply.
Amazon has reportedly constructed a “humanoid park,” an indoor impediment course inside one in all its San Francisco workplaces, the place the robots will likely be examined.
Whereas the corporate hasn’t commented publicly, Amazon allegedly plans to make use of third-party {hardware} throughout early trials.
“Amazon’s transfer validates what the crypto-AI house has been constructing in the direction of: permissionless intelligence backed by highly effective infrastructure,” Abhay, founder and CEO of DappLooker AI informed Decrypt.
Amazon’s AI ambitions have additionally prolonged into media, with the corporate finalizing a multi-year licensing deal final Thursday with The New York Occasions to deliver its journalism, recipes, and sports activities content material to Alexa and its proprietary AI fashions.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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