HERMISTON — According to an Amazon Web Services study, AWS has pumped nearly $23 billion into Oregon since 2011, impacting the state’s gross domestic product by $6.4 billion and supporting nearly 5,700 jobs.

Released Oct. 12, the economic impact study states AWS has invested $22.9 billion into its Morrow and Umatilla counties data centers from 2011-22, directly employing nearly 1,000 full-time employees and supporting more than 5,000 local workers at AWS and external businesses.

“Basically, that’s all of the capital investments that we’re making into building data centers in the state that are part of our U.S. West region, where we’ve developed this infrastructure, and that’s resulted in a $6.4 billion contribution to GDP and 5,700 jobs supported with that investment,” Shannon Kellogg, AWS vice president for public policy in the Americas, said.

Jobs

He said Umatilla and Morrow counties are the “two primary counties” that AWS operates in Oregon. He added that employees supported by the investment include electricians and construction workers used while building the data centers as well as different businesses providing services to the data centers and operations.

“You know, whether it’s businesses that provide things such as fencing, there’s a whole host of services and products that we need in order to both build and maintain these data centers,” Kellogg said.

However, the main jobs at the AWS centers are data technicians and security personnel.

“So your kind of core jobs in the data centers will be data center technicians, and then you will have security personnel, obviously,” he said. “We need security personnel in those complexes. And then there will be other full-time jobs to round out services, but technicians and security personnel are two substantial areas of focus in those in those complexes.”

GDP and expansion

The AWS data centers investments have also added more than $6.4 billion to Oregon’s GDP, the study states.

“So when we hire, when we build a data center, you have to have electricians who are building that out, you have to have construction workers to build that out,” Kellogg said. “You have businesses that provide services, that contribute to the local economy. You have workers who are in the local areas that contribute to the local economy. And so, it’s the overall GDP impact of those investments in those counties that is calculated, but it would factor all of those things.”

Although Kellogg didn’t disclose the number of AWS data centers in Umatilla and Morrow counties, he said it was a “large number” and that the company has expansion plans in the two counties.

“So in addition to the current data centers that we operate in both counties, we continue to also bring new data centers online, and we have additional expansion plans that we’re doing in Oregon in those in those two counties,” he said.

Kellogg gave no further details about the company’s expansion plans in the counties.

Direct investment

The study also states AWS has made direct investment through its InCommunities program, which has donated approximately $2 million to organizations in Eastern Oregon.

According to the report, those donations support organizations such as the Eastern Oregon Mission, a food bank that serves the greater Hermiston region; the Umatilla School District Robotics Program; Greater Oregon STEM, which drives several initiatives including the mailing of STEM kits for fourth graders in Eastern Oregon; a Mobile Makers Lab; and an updated lending library for schools.

“In addition to all of these data points…. we’re also doing a lot in these communities in these counties,” Kellogg said. “And so we do a lot of training. We partner with local community colleges. We conduct Girls Tech Days. We’re also constantly involved in the community, trying to provide not only in-kind support or free training and support, but sometimes direct financial support into various nonprofits.”

An example of direct financial support from AWS, he said, was ongoing contributions to Stepping Stones in Hermiston, which provides shelter, basic needs and support to people experiencing homelessness.

The impact study also states AWS is dedicated to being a good environmental steward. Among its commitments to the communities it works in, the study states, AWS has pledged to be “water positive” by 2030 — returning more water to communities than its data centers use.

“In Oregon, for example, the company already provides up to 96% of the cooling water from its data centers to local farmers at no charge for use in irrigating crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat,” the study states.

According to the study, AWS has invested nearly $109 billion in cloud-computing infrastructure in the United States since 2011 with a $38 billion economic impact, along with supporting nearly 30,000 jobs.

AWS is a cloud-computing company providing on-demand delivery of information technology resources over the internet to millions of customers, the study states, offering more than 240 fully featured services from data centers globally.