Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched the AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region, marking a major expansion of its global cloud infrastructure. The new region, located in New Zealand, provides customers with the ability to run workloads and store data locally, ensuring compliance with data residency requirements while delivering lower latency for end users across the country and the broader Asia Pacific region. The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region consists of three Availability Zones at launch, bringing AWS’s total to 120 Availability Zones across 38 global regions. Each Availability Zone is designed with independent power, cooling, and physical security, connected via redundant, ultra-low-latency networks to ensure high availability and fault tolerance. Amazon plans to invest over NZ$7.5 billion in New Zealand to build, connect, operate, and maintain the region’s data centers. This investment is expected to contribute approximately NZ$10.8 billion to the country’s GDP and support more than 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs annually across construction, engineering, telecommunications, and operations. The new region is sovereign-by-design, meaning it is built to meet New Zealand’s specific data sovereignty and regulatory needs. It enables organizations across sectors—including financial services, retail, education, government, and nonprofits—to leverage advanced AWS technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, analytics, and database services, while keeping data within the country. Key customers already using AWS in New Zealand include AMP New Zealand, Kiwibank, Ministry of Transport, New Zealand Post, One New Zealand, TVNZ, University of Auckland, Wellington City Council, Xero, and many others. AWS Partners in the country include Accenture, Datacom, Deloitte, CyberCX, and Westcon-Comstor, among others. To support digital transformation and workforce development, AWS has committed to training 100,000 people in New Zealand in cloud skills through programs like AWS Academy, AWS Educate, and AWS Skill Builder. To date, more than 50,000 individuals have already received training. AWS will also hire and develop local talent to operate and support the new region. Sustainability is a core part of the region’s foundation. The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region will be powered entirely by renewable energy from day one, supported by a long-term agreement with Mercury NZ for the Turitea South wind farm. This collaboration helps expand renewable energy capacity in New Zealand and supports Amazon’s goal to reach net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040, as part of The Climate Pledge. This launch builds on Amazon’s growing presence in New Zealand, including enhanced subsea connectivity in 2016, two Amazon CloudFront edge locations in Auckland in 2020, an AWS Direct Connect location in 2023, and an AWS Local Zones deployment in Auckland also in 2023. These investments have improved network performance, reliability, and low-latency access for customers. AWS continues to expand globally, with plans for 10 additional Availability Zones and three new AWS Regions in Chile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. The new AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region strengthens New Zealand’s position as a technology hub in the Asia Pacific region, empowering businesses of all sizes to innovate, scale securely, and drive digital transformation.