Ohio Governor, Mike DeWine along with Lt. Governor, John Husted announced on Monday that Amazon Web Services (AWS) will invest approximately $7.8 billion by the end of 2029 to expand its data center operations in Central Ohio creating hundreds of new jobs.

The data center project represents the second larges single private sector company investment in Ohio's history. The new data centers will contain computer services, data storage drives, networking equipment and other forms of technology infrastructure used to power cloud computing.

Numerous areas of Central Ohio are under consideration for the new data center campuses and site selection will be announced at a later date.

Governor DeWine says Amazon is already one of the largest private sector employers in Ohio and this would further cement Ohio as the heart of technology and innovation in the U.S.

"As more of the world relies on cloud computing, this investment will build on Amazon's current infrastructure in Ohio to help new and existing businesses grow, allow residents to securely connect to friends and family and provide access to online educational resources and entertainment," DeWine said.

AWS launched its first data centers in the Midwest in 2016 and currently operates data center campuses in both Franklin and Licking Counties. 

To date, AWS's investments and operations have generated over $2 billion in economic benefit for Ohio and supported over 3,000 local secondary jobs on an average annual basis. In 2022, AWS employed nearly 1,000 Ohioans across the state.