Key takeaways
- A new data center campus in Montgomery County will include over $7 million in community contributions from Amazon including funding for emergency dispatch services, a new gathering space at the fairgrounds, and a new community fund to provide grants for community projects.
- The project will enable road and water infrastructure improvements and is expected to create over 400 full-time data center jobs and thousands of construction jobs.
- Amazon has worked with the local utility, Ameren Missouri, to ensure the costs associated with this new campus are not passed on to other ratepayers.
Since 2017, Amazon has called Missouri home—and our presence has grown steadily since. Today, Amazon employs more than 10,000 Missourians, supports another 10,000 jobs in industries like construction, logistics, and professional services, and has contributed more than $9 billion to the state's GDP since 2010.
Today, Amazon announced plans to invest several billion dollars in Missouri to build a state-of-the-art data center campus in Montgomery County, which will create new jobs, enable road and water infrastructure improvements, generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue, and support community education programs. This project will also support cloud computing technologies that power services that millions of Americans rely on every day, from working remotely and streaming TV shows to accessing hospital records and making financial transactions.
With fulfillment centers, delivery stations, Whole Foods Market locations, and a solar farm in the state, Amazon is deeply embedded in Missouri's local communities. More than 1,000 employees have participated in our free education and skills training programs since 2019, and independent sellers in the state—most of which are small and medium-sized businesses—have sold more than 43 million items in Amazon's store. With this new investment, we plan to do much more.
“Today’s announcement represents more than a major investment in Missouri’s future—it represents new opportunities for Montgomery County and the surrounding region,” said Governor Mike Kehoe. “Projects like this create lasting benefits for local communities by supporting critical infrastructure improvements, generating new tax revenue for schools and public services, and strengthening the foundation for future economic growth. Amazon’s continued investment into our state demonstrates confidence in Missouri’s workforce, business climate, and communities, and we’re proud to celebrate this milestone alongside our local partners and residents.”
“Missouri has been home to Amazon since 2017 and more than 10,000 Missourians come to work with us every day. Today's announcement reflects what we've learned over those years: that when you show up as a real partner, listen to the community, and invest for the long term, everyone benefits," said Amazon Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer David Zapolsky. "We're building data centers that will create hundreds of new jobs, support educators and students, and strengthen local infrastructure. That includes $3 million to support local emergency dispatch services, and more than $1 million for a new community gathering space at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. Our investment matters most when the community is better for it.”
Building and operating responsibly
We are committed to being a long-term community partner in the communities where we invest. By listening, learning, and collaborating, we strive to be a good neighbor and an active partner in fostering thriving, resilient communities.
Amazon has worked with the local utility, Ameren Missouri, to ensure the costs associated with our new data center campus in Montgomery County are not passed on to other ratepayers. That means the rates we pay are designed to ensure that we cover the costs of our energy use, so Ameren's current customers won't see any costs associated with powering our data centers on their electric bill. In addition, Amazon has invested in a carbon-free energy project in Missouri, generating 138 MW of energy—enough to power more than 28,000 homes—helping to increase overall energy supply and support long-term electricity affordability across the region.
At times, to build and operate data centers, new utility infrastructure is required. In Montgomery County, we are investing to build the water infrastructure our facilities need. Once construction is complete, we will donate the entire system to Montgomery County Public Water Supply District No. 1 at no cost. This means the Water District can use it to expand water service to other parts of the community as it sees fit.
About 90% of the time, Amazon's data centers use “free air cooling," pulling in outside air, running it past servers to absorb the heat, then pumping it back outside.Our data centers are designed to be exceptionally water efficient. Based on the geography of this area, we anticipate these data centers will only use water for cooling for 7% of the year or less, and that’s because on most days, we are able to use outside air for cooling. At full capacity, the data center campus will use less than 0.1% of the aquifer's annual volume of recharge from typical annual rainfall.
On the hottest days of the year, when we do use water for cooling, this project will use a rainwater harvesting system designed to supply approximately 20% of the site’s annual water needs and reuse water six times through an on-site recycling system.
Beyond our industry-leading water efficiency, we are committed to being water positive by 2030 in our data center operations. With over 50 projects already underway, we are investing in replenishment and conservation initiatives that will return more water to local watersheds than we use in our direct operations, benefiting surrounding communities.
We are partnering with agricultural technology company Arable Labs to improve irrigation efficiency for farmers in northeastern Missouri. The irrigation optimization technology—using Arable Mark 3 sensors and the Amazon Web Services Cloud—will provide farmers with real-time data on when crops actually need irrigation, eliminating unnecessary watering and reducing groundwater withdrawals. This project is expected to reduce water use by 100 million gallons annually within the local watershed, equivalent to more than 150 Olympic swimming pools.
Empowering the community
We want to ensure that the communities where we operate are better because we're there. We do this by creating jobs with competitive pay and benefits, operating fulfillment and data centers responsibly, and actively supporting local communities.
As part of this data center investment in Missouri, Amazon is making several immediate commitments to Montgomery County.
First, we’re making a $3 million community contribution toward emergency dispatch services, to support strengthening the public safety infrastructure for all residents. We will also be making several roadway improvements and building a new bridge over the Norfolk Southern Railway on Ellis Road, replacing the existing railroad crossing, so drivers will no longer have to stop and wait for trains to pass.
We're also joining in on the fun at the Montgomery County Fair. This year we will be a major sponsor of the fair, and we are committing over $1 million to build a new large-scale community gathering space at the fairgrounds, which we hope will be the location of many wonderful county fair memories for years to come.
Building on these commitments, Amazon will also invest more than $3 million in community programs focused on STEM education, skills development, sustainability, and support for local nonprofit organizations. Today, we’re launching the Amazon Montgomery County Community Fund with a $150,000 commitment. Managed by the nonprofit ChangeX, the fund will provide grants up to $10,000 for community projects across Montgomery County. By focusing on local needs, these investments will strengthen communities and create a lasting positive impact.
We are also launching a $50,000 fund with the Montgomery County School District to provide grants to teachers as well as school supplies, and will introduce the Amazon Think Big Program, a comprehensive STEM initiative designed to inspire students through hands-on experiences. The Amazon Think Big Program is an innovative STEM education initiative designed to inspire and engage students through hands-on learning experiences and interactive workshops.
These investments build on Amazon's existing community impact across Missouri, where we have engaged over 700 of our employees in volunteering, reached more than 10,000 students and 1,000 teachers through education programs, supported over 100,000 computer science learning hours, and delivered more than 300,000 meals on behalf of food banks and nonprofits.
These community contributions are separate from the tax revenue this project will bring. The land where our data centers will be built previously generated less than $9,000 a year in property taxes. Once operational, this investment is projected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue for Montgomery County—funding the County can use for schools, roads, public services, and other community priorities.
Creating good jobs and economic opportunity
The types of data center positions Amazon creates include electricians, HVAC technicians, project engineers, network specialists, operations managers, and security specialists, among others—jobs that offer competitive pay and comprehensive benefits from day one.
Amazon partners with local community colleges, technical schools, universities, and K-12 institutions to develop training programs that prepare people for the wide range of careers data centers create, not just at Amazon, but with the contractors, subcontractors, utilities, fiber companies, and other businesses that build, connect, and power this infrastructure. These partnerships include hands-on training centers, equipment donations, faculty development, and industry-aligned curriculum designed to equip local institutions to sustain these programs on their own. For younger students, we offer hands-on exposure to careers in STEM. The goal is to build a skilled talent pipeline that supports the entire data center community and continues to grow long after the initial investment.
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