AWS announces up to $100 million in federal credits to accelerate innovation for national security and scientific missions

Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced two federal credit programs totaling up to $100 million to accelerate innovation in support of America’s most critical national security and scientific missions. The AWS Warfighter Capability Accelerator Initiative and AWS Genesis Accelerator Initiative will each provide up to $50 million in AWS credits over three years (2026-2028) to help federal agencies, national laboratories, and their supporting organizations rapidly develop and deploy advanced capabilities using AWS cloud services and generative AI technologies.

The AWS Warfighter Capability Accelerator and Genesis Mission Accelerator initiatives provide up to $100M in credits to remove financial barriers that prevent organizations from operating at the speed required for national security and scientific leadership, compressing innovation timelines from years to months. Together, these programs reflect the leading role of AWS as a cloud partner for the U.S. federal government, providing solutions for challenges that limit innovation and the ready-today tools for those working on the next big breakthrough.

AWS Warfighter Capability Accelerator Initiative

The AWS Warfighter Capability Accelerator Initiative provides up to $50 million in AWS credits to the U.S. Department of War (DoW), defense industrial base, and defense contractors. The program will provide credits for mission uses such as AI and autonomous systems, AI-enabled battle management and decision support for Combatant Commands, homeland defense, advanced manufacturing and shipbuilding, contested logistics, priority critical cybersecurity, and space-based systems.

“We are excited to pursue multiple pathways and initiatives that invest in the technologies and solutions that directly address Department of War’s most pressing, real-world challenges.”

– David Fitzgerald, Deputy Under Secretary of the Army.

Eligible participants include all DoW entities, defense industrial base organizations such as manufacturing facilities and research institutions, and defense contractors ranging from prime contractors to start-ups.

The Warfighter Capability Accelerator Initiative supports Secretary Hegseth’s Arsenal of Freedom vision, along with the 2026 National Defense Strategy, and AI Acceleration Strategy, so the Department of War can deliver advanced capabilities at wartime speed. The programs also enable President Trump’s Executive Order on modernizing defense acquisitions by encouraging speed, flexibility, and innovation in the defense industrial base.

AWS Genesis Accelerator Initiative

The AWS Genesis Accelerator Initiative provides up to $50 million in AWS credits to support AI-powered scientific breakthroughs across priority domains including biotechnology, nuclear fission and fusion energy, supercomputing and quantum information science. This program will enable work by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), including the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), all associated national laboratories, federal research organizations, and private sector organizations.

The AWS Initiative is named after the Genesis Mission: an Executive Order 14363 launched in November 2025 with the goal of harnessing AI-accelerated innovation to double the productivity and impact of American research within a decade. AWS has supported the Genesis Mission since day one, collaborating with Idaho National Lab on digital twins. The credit program continues our work building the foundations for generations of American scientific leadership.

Program Benefits and Resources

In both programs, participants can receive:

• Cloud computing credits: Up to $50 million per program to access AWS cloud technology;
• Training programs: Training curricula covering cloud technologies, AI/ML, and modern software development practices; and
• Technical expertise: Direct access to AWS solution architects and AI specialists for guidance and support.

Both programs support workloads across all classification levels, from unclassified (FedRAMP High) to Top Secret/SCI, ensuring secure innovation for the most sensitive missions.

Agencies interested in receiving credits can visit the Initiative Portal [link] and complete the interest form. AWS will schedule a consultation and work with participants to develop project proposals aligned with DoW and DOE innovation priorities. Post-award credits will be applied to existing contracts, and participants can begin building.

Commitment to Public Sector customers

AWS is unwaveringly committed to public sector customers in the federal, defense, and intelligence communities, and today supports more than 11,000 government agencies across the globe. AWS brings nearly a decade of experience supporting some the U.S. government’s most sensitive workloads and breaking barriers for our customers. AWS was the first cloud provider to build infrastructure specifically for government (2011), support classified workloads (2014), and achieve accreditation across all US government data classifications (2017).

One example is the support we’ve extended for our government customers in the past six months alone. In August, the U.S. General Services Administration announced a OneGov Agreement with AWS to provide up to $1 billion in savings for cloud adoption, modernization, and training for federal agencies through 2028. In October, AWS launched a second Secret Cloud Region, AWS Secret-West, further expanding classified computing capabilities. In November, Amazon announced it will invest up to $50 billion to expand AI and supercomputing infrastructure for U.S. government agencies.

Learn more about the Accelerator Initiatives and how to participate.