Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched a new cloud region in Taiwan.

Revealed by the cloud giant on June 5, the new region, dubbed AWS Asia Pacific (Taipei), is the company’s first in the country and 15th in Asia Pacific.

In addition to the launch of the cloud region, Reuters reports that Amazon will invest a further $5 billion in the cloud region to support ongoing construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of its data centers.

The company confirmed that it would launch a Taiwan region this year in June 2024, noting at the time that it would also invest “billions of dollars” in the country over the next 15 years.

AWS has had a presence in Taiwan since 2014, starting with an AWS Taipei Office. Also that year, the company launched an Amazon CloudFront Edge location in the country, with a second arriving in 2018.

That same year, AWS established two AWS Direct Connect locations and brought AWS Outposts to the country in 2020. More recently, in 2022, it launched a Local Zone in Taipei.

With the new cloud region launch, AWS has added a third AWS Direct Connect location in Taiwan, aiming to provide customers with higher speed and bandwidth.

The Direct Connect location is housed within the Chief Telecom HD data center, located near Taipei. According to AWS, customers who connect their network to AWS at the site gain private direct access to all public AWS Regions except those in China, AWS GovCloud Regions, and AWS Local Zones. The location offers dedicated 10Gbps and 100Gbps connections.

Early customers of the new region include Gamania Group, Chunghwa Telecom, Cathay Financial Holdings.

“The investment of AWS in local infrastructure will help drive the digital transformation of Taiwan companies, boosting the development of various industries spanning from traditional industries to emerging digital sectors,” said Shasta Ho, the CEO of Nextlink Technology Inc., an AWS Premier Consulting Partner.

“We look forward to continuing working with AWS to help enterprises across industries deeply utilize the new AWS Asia Pacific (Taipei) Region. This local advantage will address customer needs in data localization, low latency, compliance, and high-performance computing workloads.”

Competitor Google also has a region in the country. The hyperscaler acquired 15 hectares of land in Taiwan’s Changhua County in 2011 and launched its first data center there in late 2013, and its GCP region the following year. In 2019, the company said it would build a second site further south in Tainan.

Microsoft announced plans for a Taipei Azure region in 2020. It is still listed as ‘coming soon.’

Chinese firm Alibaba has previously operated a cloud region in Taiwan but disconnected it in 2022.

This year so far, AWS has launched new cloud regions in Thailand and Mexico, and in May announced it would invest $4bn in a data center region in Chile.

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/aws-launches-taiwan-cloud-region-will-invest-5bn-in-data-centers-in-country/