The economic impact of AWS’s investment in Japan

At Amazon Web Services (AWS), we are committed to supporting Japan’s digital transformation (DX) ambition by helping Japanese customers modernize IT and innovate securely at pace, driving sustainable economic growth. I’m humbled to share that since 2011, AWS has invested ¥1.35 trillion in total capital and operational expenditure associated with our two AWS infrastructure Regions in the country. In 2022, we invested ¥348 billion in capital and operational investments in our data centers in Japan. During 2011-2022, the investment in our AWS Regions in Japan resulted in ¥1.31 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) contributed to the Japanese economy. In 2022, our infrastructure also supported over 20,300 full-time jobs at third-party vendors in skilled professions.

There are two AWS Regions delivering world-class infrastructure in Japan where customers can access over 200 fully featured cloud services. AWS opened the AWS Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region in March 2011, and expanded the AWS Asia Pacific (Osaka) Region to a full Region in 2021 to give our customers in Japan even lower latency, and the ability to architect workloads for even greater fault tolerance, resiliency, and availability.

Figure 1. An overview of AWS investments and economic impact in Japan from 2011 to 2022. View a larger version of this image.

Earning trust with customers since Day One

Our Japanese customers – from large enterprises to startups and public sector organizations – are using AWS to drive the DX agenda in industries, such as manufacturing, automotive, and financial services, as well as healthcare and citizen services. In 2021 and 2022, Japan Digital Agency (DA) selected AWS as one of the cloud service providers to support Government Cloud, which delivers common cloud infrastructure that central government agencies, local governments, and other government organizations can use. Access to our global cloud infrastructure also means that Japanese customers have greater access to the global digital economy, enabling more Japanese digital exports and greater digital innovation in Japan.

We are also focused on helping our customers meet their sustainability goals with cloud technology. Migrating IT workloads from on-premises to cloud data centers in Japan can reduce energy and carbon emissions by nearly 80%. AWS’s scale allows us to achieve higher resource utilization and energy efficiency than the typical on-premises data center. Once our customers migrate to AWS, we help customers improve their sustainability in the cloud, and accelerate the pace of innovation in sustainability through our tools, services, and solutions. Recently, AWS launched a customer carbon footprint tool, helping customers calculate the estimated carbon emissions they have avoided by using AWS instead of on-premises data centers.

Building a more sustainable world is something we are deeply committed to. Amazon is on a path to powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025. Amazon is the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy with 379 projects around the world, including a 22 megawatt solar project in Japan with Mitsubishi Corporation.

Boosting local partners, digital talent, and startups

Our partner community is a force multiplier that helps our customers to innovate in Japan. The AWS Partner Network (APN), which includes over 100,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators (SIs) around the world, provides Japanese partners with business opportunities as well as technical, marketing, and go-to-market support for customers. Japanese system integrators, consulting partners, and independent software vendors help enterprise and public sector customers migrate to AWS, deploy mission-critical applications, and provide a full range of monitoring, automation, and management services for customers’ environments.

To accelerate their AWS business, several system integrators in Japan, including NEC, Fujitsu, Classmethod, NTT DATA, and Hitachi Systems have signed multi-year strategic collaboration agreements, which include training, go-to-market initiatives, and industry solutions. We work closely with our local partners to build solutions and services for their customers, leveraging AWS with exclusive access to AWS Partner-dedicated resources, training, and benefits.

To help accelerate this transformation, AWS is also deeply invested in helping Japan unlock its cloud potential by addressing the digital skills gap through AWS education programs, training, and certification. AWS-commissioned research by AlphaBeta shows that cloud and cybersecurity skills will be the top two most sought-after digital skills by Japanese employers by 2025. AWS has trained over 400,000 individuals in Japan with cloud skills since 2017, providing them with in-demand cloud skills and best practices to help learners and organizations innovate in the cloud.

In 2021, Japanese global printing company Toppan embarked on a full-scale digital transformation with AWS. To meet its 2025 business transformation goals, Toppan wanted to improve its employees’ cloud skills, so the 122-year-old company worked with AWS to train more than a total of 1,600 employees over three months. AWS also helped 1,050 Toppan employees pursue AWS Certifications in one year, enabling them to identify skilled professionals to implement DX initiatives.

Startups in Japan are benefiting from AWS resources and programs to help launch, grow, and scale their businesses on the cloud. AWS Activate has provided hundreds of thousands of early stage startups around the world with powerful tools and resources to grow their business. Since this program started in 2013, we have provided billions of yen to thousands of Japanese startups. For startups developing innovative cloud-based solutions in the government, health, environment, and scientific sectors, we also offer specialized business mentorship, technical support, and up to US $100,000 in AWS credits through our AWS Startup Ramp program.

Supporting Japan’s security and sovereignty needs

We understand that maintaining resiliency to keep critical data and infrastructure safe is a top priority for Japanese customers and public sector organizations. Security at AWS starts with our core infrastructure, and this includes our data centers in our AWS Regions in Japan. Custom-built for the cloud and designed to meet the most stringent security requirements in the world, our infrastructure is monitored 24×7 to help support the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of customers’ data. All data flowing across the AWS global network that interconnects our data centers and Regions is automatically encrypted at the physical layer before it leaves our secured facilities.

Customers in Japan can build on AWS’s global infrastructure, architected to be the most secure cloud computing environment available today, knowing they always control their data, including the ability to encrypt it, move it, and manage retention at any time. In March 2021, AWS was among the first cloud service providers to be certified under Japan’s Information System Security Management and Assessment Program (ISMAP) program, a government initiative that assesses the security of public cloud services and sets a baseline requirement for government procurement. AWS has also achieved many international certifications and accreditations, demonstrating compliance with third-party assurance frameworks such as ISO 27017 for cloud security, ISO 27018 for cloud privacy, and SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3.

We are committed to making long-term investments in purpose-built technologies and systems to keep raising the bar of security for our customers. For example, AWS Control Tower offers more customer control over the physical location of where their data is stored and processed, the AWS Nitro System offers confidential computing, prohibiting administrative access, and reducing the possibility of human error and tampering. We strongly believe that our customers around the world should have the freedom to choose the world’s best technologies, so they can continue to innovate and compete at home and globally.

Long-term commitment to customers and DX in Japan

These initiatives and investments represent AWS’s long-term commitment to Japan and our understanding of what is important to our customers. Through building world-leading infrastructure, collaborating with local Japanese companies, and committing to digital skills and jobs in Japan, we continue to support Japan’s ongoing digital transformation, and help to boost economic prosperity.

Learn more about how AWS supports Japan’s public sector.

AWS Public Sector Blog

The economic impact of AWS’s investment in Japan

Earning trust with customers since Day One

Boosting local partners, digital talent, and startups

Supporting Japan’s security and sovereignty needs

Long-term commitment to customers and DX in Japan

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